
Glass JEXiC-L 

Book S 7f 

Copyright N? 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



1l§t ftlbti&St fenits 

THE SINNER AND HIS 
SAVIOUR 



THE WAY OF SALVATION 
MADE PLAIN 



BY 



Samuel P. Spreng, D. D., 

EDITOR OP "THE EVANGELICAL 
MESSENGER. ' ' 

AUTHOR OF "LIFE AND LABORS OF BISHOP 
JOHN SEYBERT," ETC., 



©ubliatrins Chouse of tf?e ©bansclical Sljseociatton 
Cletoelanfc, fl)« 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 
FEB 16 190? 

_ Copyright Entry s 

CUVSS CL XXC, No. 

COPY B. 



Copyright, 1906. 
BY J. H. LAMB. 



t>\ 






TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Chapter I Prerequisites. 

Chapter II . . The Problem and Purpose of Redemption. 

Chapter III The Redeemer and His Work. 

Chapter IV The Conditions of Salvation. 

Chapter V Conditions of Salvation, continued. 

Chapter VI The Experience of Salvation. 

Chapter VII The Christian Life. 

Chapter "VTII Heaven— Eternal Lite. 



PREFACE. 

Under a provision of the General Conference 
of the Evangelical Association, in 1903, a series 
of books is projected, which is to set forth the 
doctrines, polity and genius of the Evangelical 
Association. The books are to be written by 
various authors in our Church, and will, it is 
hoped, form a nucleus for a new body of denomi- 
national literature, besides stimulating our 
people, especially our young people and ministers, 
to study more closely the Church to which they 
belong, thus fostering an intelligent loyalty, 
and making possible a co-operation of forces 
and activities which can not fail to result in 
broader usefulness and more pronounced suc- 
cess in all departments of church work. 

In view of the purpose and scope of this 
projected series of books, it has been thought 
highly appropriate to name it "The Albright 
Series," in honor of the revered founder of 
our beloved Church, the Rev. Jacob Albright. 



CHAPTER I. 

PREREQUISITES. 

Religion is based upon three fundamental 
propositions, without which it can not exist. 
These are, (1) That there is a living God who 
is the author of our being, is interested in our 
well being and, is worthy of our worship, and 
able and disposed to recognize our attempts to 
approach Him. (2) That man's will is free. 
(3) That man lives forever and does not cease 
with the dissolution of physical organism. 

Upon these fundamental conceptions the 
Christian System wholly rests. That man is 
not an antomaton, but a free self volitionating 
agent, possessing the power of initiative and self 
determination, and that he has a life which 
outlasts physical organism is as necessary to re- 
ligion as that God is and that he is a rewarder 
of them that diligently seek him. 

As a necessary corollary to these proposi- 
tions we must also postulate that between these 
free and immortal beings and the supreme per- 
sonal cause of the universe a vital relation sub- 

7 



8 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

sists by virtue of which human life is so touched 
with the Divine as to invest it with a dignity 
and interest quite uni:ue and most impressive. 
Only upon this ground can the manifest divine 
interest in man, the redeeming work of Christ, 
His death upon the cross, and the inauguration 
of world wide evangelism be justified or ac- 
counted for. If God does not exist, or if, ex- 
isting, He is not interested in human affairs, 
there can be no thought of religion, which is 
simply living, intelligent and affectionate com- 
munion with Him. If man is not free there 
can be neither virtue or happiness in a religious 
life. If man is not immortal he is not in- 
herently worth saving. For if he dies or per- 
ishes there is not much that is of value that is 
lost. Then the sacrifice and death of Christ was 
a wanton and cruel waste, and the divine solici- 
tude for us is inexplicable. 

GOD AND MAN. 

God and man are the two beings vitally con- 
cerned in the scheme of redemption. The angels 
who are the only other intelligent beings of 
whom we know anything are either safe or lost. 
Their destiny is irrevocably fixed. The angels 



PREREQUISITES. 9 

who kept not their first estate are reserved in 
everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the 
Judgment of the great day. Jude 6. Those 
angels who abode their time of probation are 
God's ministering spirits, happy in the com- 
panionship, favor and service of their God. 
But man is in need of and capable of redemp- 
tion, though fallen into sin, and God is able and 
disposed to save him. 

In order to get a fair understanding of the 
problem involved, several general truths must 
be stated. 

OUR TEXT BOOK. 

1. Our only infallible and sufficient source 
of religious knowledge is the Bible, which is 
the word of God, and in which the will, purpose 
and plan of God concerning men are clearly 
and positively revealed. The Bible therefore, 
with the best light we can get upon its teaching, 
is our great text book in the study of our sub- 
ject. It is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and is 
a revelation from God upon the solemn and vital 
problems of human life and destiny. No other 
book can take its place or answer its purpose. It 
has been severely assailed and tested in the fiercest 



10 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

crucible of human intellect, but it has survived 
the assaults of skeptical criticism and of in- 
fidelity, and stands firm and intact, "The Im- 
pregnable Eock of Holy Scripture/ ' as William 
E. Gladstone called it. Upon its truths faith 
rests secure. Here sorrow pillows its aching 
head ; here grief dries its tears ; here the human 
spirit gathers new hope and courage; here we 
have the guiding star of our life, through all 
the perplexities of our earthly experience. 

THE INFALLIBLE GUIDE. 

2. This great Book supplies the supreme re- 
ligious need of the human spirit, an infallible 
guide. The need of certainty in religion is abso- 
lute. We may grope our way to scientific discovery 
and manage in temporal affairs with theories 
and guesses. We may indulge to our hearts' con- 
tent in philosophical speculation. We may make 
life long experiments in mechanics, chemistry, 
or in testing the best commercial or industrial 
methods. But when it comes to religion, which 
touches, vitally, the eternal interests of the soul 
we must have certainty. Here doubt is perilous, 
and falsehood fatal. Only the truth makes men 
free. Faith must rest on fact. There are those 



PREREQUISITES. H 

who say it makes no difference what a man be- 
lieves, only so he is sincere. A dangerous 
fallacy, that. If a man believes a lie, the word 
of God assures us he will lose his soul. We are 
saved by belief of the truth. Sincere belief of 
falsehood will not do. We must have certainty. 
This certainty is afforded us in the word of 
God. This word meets fully and exactly the 
spiritual need of the human soul and answers 
adequately its deepest aspirations. Its truths 
are not a discovery, but a revelation. 

BELIEF IN GOD FUNDAMENTAL. 

3. According to this word, the belief in the 
existence and goodness of God is fundamentally 
essential to a religious life. He that cometh to 
God must believe that He is and that He is a 
rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Heb. 
11 :6. The belief in the existence of God, in- 
deed, is an intuition of the soul, universal and 
ineradicable in the human race. But there are 
those who in the perversity of their depraved 
nature endeavor to deny and crush these deep 
intuitions, and throw around this fairest flower 
that grows in the spoiled Eden of our being, 
the dust and cobwebs of so-called Reason, which 



12 TEE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOTJB. 

is indeed the greatest unreason. The man who 
makes an atheist of himself — no man is by na- 
ture an atheist — will certainly not come to a 
God in whose existence he professes not to believe. 
It is clear therefore, that atheism, like its oppo- 
site, saving virtue, faith, is of the heart rather 
than of the head. It is clear, also, that there is 
good reason for the Scriptural demand that he 
that cometh to God must believe that he is. He 
must also believe that he is a rewarder of them 
that diligently seek him. It is the conviction 
that God is interested and solicitous for His crea- 
tures; it is hope in the mercy of God, confi- 
dence in His goodness, expectation of gracious 
help, that inspires men to come to Him for sal- 
vation. 

THE GOD OF THE BIBLE. 

4. The God of the Bible is infinite in all 
the attributes of His Being, perfect in His 
moral character, supreme in authority, the Ab- 
solute, uncreated, eternal, self-sufficient, self- 
existent One. He is not only the Creator of all 
things, but the foundation of all existences and 
His will is the supreme law of the universe. He 
is infinite in goodness and love, always choosing 



PEEBEQUISITES. 13 

the highest good as the final purpose of all action. 
He is perfect in all wisdom and knows infallibly 
what ought to be done to attain the highest good 
of His creatures. He is infinite in power, and 
therefore able to do that which His wisdom and 
love dictate should be done. He is absolutely 
just and holy. There is no unrighteousness in 
Him. He is of too pure an eye to behold in- 
iquity. Holiness is the Kohinoor in the coronet 
of His preeminence. Therefore while He loves 
His creatures, He is inherently and absolutely 
antagonistic to all moral wrong, for the abso- 
lute norm of moral character and conduct is 
Himself. He will do the right "though the 
heaven falls" — but the heavens will not fall, 
for they are upheld by the right hand of His 
righteousness, and all things by the word of His 
power. 

DIVINE SUPREMACY. 

5. As the supreme being, of infinite wisdom, 
goodness, justice, and love, God is absolute in 
authority. His will is the law of the universe, 
His nature the law of our lives. Harmony with 
God is the final basis of human happiness. To 
Him also we are therefore accountable. We are 



14 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAFIOUB. 

in the profoundest sense dependent upon Him, 
and responsible to Him. Our life rounds up in 
the end before His great Judgment throne. 
Nor can we escape that final arbitrament of our 
destiny. 

THE TRINITY. 

It is necessary to remind ourselves, also, 
that the God of revelation, who purposed, 
planned and procured the redemption, is triune 
in the mode of His existence. The doctrine of 
the Trinity is necessary to any understanding 
of the Bible plan of salvation. It is indeed a 
great mystery, and will remain forever un- 
fathomable, yet it is essential to any under- 
standing of scriptural statements regarding 
God's work in man's salvation. The doctrine 
is thus formulated: '" There is but one true and 
living God, an eternal Being, a Spirit without 
body, indivisible, of infinite power, wisdom, and 
goodness; Creator and Preserver of all things 
visible and invisible. And in this Godhead 
there is a Trinty, of one substance and power, 
and co-eternal; the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost." 



PBEBEQUISITES. 15 

THE TRINITY REDEMPTIONAL. 

The whole Trinity in the Godhead was and 
is active in the redemption of man. The Father 
who is the essential God, the center and source 
of all things, in whom the Son and the Holy 
Spirit are one, is the Fountain and Source of 
salvation; the Son, who is in the bosom of the 
Father, and one with Him, is the Procuring 
Agent, the provider of salvation; the Holy 
Spirit is the administrator of salvation. The 
three Persons in the adorable Trinity work to- 
gether, each, in all the plenitude of the Divine 
attributes, each, in the fulness of the Divine 
passion for humanity, each in perfect accord 
with the others, each in all and all in each, 
striving for our individual rescue. Glory be 
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy 
Ghost, forever and ever, Amen! 

THE SEED OF SALVATION. 

6. The human race is sinful, and depraved, 
and in dire need of salvation. The whole idea 
of the plan of salvation proceeds upon this truth. 
Man is a sinner. Every man is a sinner. That 
is the raison d-etre of the plan of salvation. 



16 TEE SINNEE AND BIS SAVIOUB. 

In his sinfulness, man is powerless to save him- 
self. He can not alter his own nature. He can 
not blot out the wrong act. He can not make 
one black spot, white. He cannot undo his 
crimes, nor regain the favor of God by any 
act or sacrifice of merit. For him the door of 
hope is closed forever, unless opened by some 
hand other than his own. It is true, of himself 
he knows no other way to save himself than by 
certain acts of merit. Heathen religions im- 
pose frightful self-tortures in order to appease 
the anger of the gods. Hindu fakirs pierce 
themselves with iron nails, impale themselves 
on spears, let the fierce sun burn their eyes 
out of their sockets, all in order to gain ulti- 
mate felicity. Merit, they conceive, cannot 
come from acts alone, but from self-inflicted 
suffering; there comes the merit of atonement, 
the power of propitiation. Every man feels that 
something must be done to take away sin, to 
lift the load of guilt. It cannot be done by 
works of super-erogation, because ability and 
obligation are at any moment exactly equal. 
A man is always bound to do all he is able to 
do. He is never justified in doing less. He is 
never able to do more. Ought and can are 



PEEBEQUISITES. 17 

equal to each other. Therefore he is helpless 
to extricate himself from the meshes in which 
he is entangled. To attempt it is like trying 
to lift one's self from the ground by his own 
boot straps. 

SINFULNESS. 

Yet sin, unless we are delivered from it, 
will work out its dire results upon those who 
are guilty of it. It is a disease of the soul that 
works out death to the soul, unless an antidote 
can be found. Sin is the transgression of the 
law. It is lawlessness. And the law distinctly 
says the soul that sinneth it shall die. That law 
is supreme and inexorable. Moral law works 
with as much precision as so-called natural law. 
It is so to speak, automatic in its operation, 
for it rests upon the nature of things. It is 
not arbitrary, but it is an expression of eternal, 
absolute justice. Its demands therefore, must 
be met in some way. It yields no quarter. It 
works itself out to the bitter end. Therefore, 
the need of salvation. Cannon Liddon aptly 
says : 

The Gospel presents us with the Scriptual idea of 
sin provoking the wrath of God and establishing be- 



18 THE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

tween man and God a state of enmity; and the idea 
points to some awful interposition which shall bring 
relief. The idea of sin, as revealed in Scripture points 
to a Divine Eedeemer. 

All men are sinners. Modern literature is 
full of confessions of this sad but incontestable 
fact. Men are not in harmony with God. 
This is the awful truth. Men may gloss it 
over, make light of it, excuse it. But the dread- 
ful truth remains. It will not down. It 
makes its force known in human hearts and 
lives and in human society, as the most solemn 
and serious fact in the world, and as the most 
malignant force in society. 

HOPELESSNESS OF THE SINFUL STATE. 

Deeds of wickedness, acts of sin, are irrev- 
ocable. They can never be recalled, and they 
and their perpetrators are indissolubly knit up 
with their consequences. The Nemesis of myth- 
ology was not more relentless in her pursuit of 
evil-doers, than is sin. Laocoon was not more 
hopelessly entangled in the coil of writhing, 
deadly serpents, than the sinner in the tight- 
ening grip of the serpent of sin. The deadly, 
desperate tyranny of sin is well shown in St. 



PREREQUISITES. 19 

Paul's dramatic picture in Romans, the 
seventh chapter, when he says: "But sin, that 
it might appear sin, working death in me by 
that which is good (the law) ; that sin by the 
commandment might become more sinful. For 
we know that the law is spiritual; but I am 
carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, 
I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; 

but what I hate, that do I For I know that 

in me, (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good 
thing; for to will is present with me; but how 
to perform that which is good, I find not. For 
the good that I would I do not; but the evil 

which I would not, that do I I find then 

a law that when I would do good, evil is present 

with me wretched man that I am ! who 

shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" 
Rom. 7 : 13-24. Here is abject slavery, un- 
mitigated corruption. The very goodness of 
the law is turned into a curse. The best im- 
pulses are crushed by the paralysis of my power 
to follow them; my strongest endeavors are 
failures; my best resolutions are nullified by 
the ever present, and apparently incurable 
malady which prevents me from carrying them 
into effect. "Evil is present with me." Like 



20 THE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUE. 

conscience and the sense of obligation, it haunts 
me at every turn. It paralyzes all my effort, 
puts out all my fires, turns all my fruit into 
apples of Sodom. Sin thus becomes the evil 
genius of my life. 

We have seen that there is no help for man 
in himself. He cannot save himself. The 
choice of good — which he is unable to make, does 
not spring from the cesspool of his own moral 
condition. The tree of human depravity can 
not bring forth the fruit of a righteous life any 
more than thistles can bring forth figs, or thorns 
grapes. If a man is ever saved, it must be by 
some power outside himself, and other than the 
human world around him. 

That power could be nothing less than Di- 
vine, to be adequate. It takes a God to save 
a man. It takes infinite resources of personal 
love, compassion, wisdom, and power, to rescue 
a fallen, guilt-imperilled soul. 

OUR PROBLEM. 

Our problem therefore, is to point the way 
out of this dreadful doom. We are not in 
"Darkest Africa," nor "Darkest England/' but 



PREREQUISITES. 21 

in the darkest wilderness of sin, and we want to 
know the way out. We are estranged from God, 
and out of harmony with Him; how are we to 
find reconciliation, peace, final felicity? This 
is the great problem of human existence. The 
word of God answers the question and solves 
the problem for us. That is our guide in our 
attempt in this book to answer the question: 
How to be saved. 



22 THE SINNEB AND HIS SAVIOUB. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PROBLEM AND PURPOSE OP RE- 
DEMPTION. 

REDEMPTION DIVINE. 

The plan of Redemption is wholly Divine. 
It is Divine in the motive that prompted it, in 
the wisdom that planned it, and in the purpose 
that inspired it. The thought originated in the 
heart of God. Human sin was the occasion for 
its conception. Man, as God created him, up- 
right, did not need salvation. Fallen man would 
never have conceived the idea. Man has sought 
out many inventions, but the thought and plan 
of salvation is not one of them. That is a Di- 
vine thought. Nor is it to be thought of as 
having been devised after the human race failed 
in its probation and became a transgressor. 
Salvation is not an afterthought — an attempt to 
patch up an unforeseen breakdown, or mend a 
sudden failure in the Divine plan. The word 
of God teaches us that the purpose of Redemp- 
tion is eternal. Eph. 3.11:: "According to 
the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ 



PROBLEM AND PURPOSE OF REDEMPTION. 23 

Jesus." His purpose was formed in Himself, 
not prompted from without. Eph. 1 : 5 :9. 

Indeed this great purpose must have been 
in the mind of God in the very thought of man 's 
creation. It antedates creation. For He cre- 
ated man after His own image and after His 
likeness. (Gen. 1:26, 27) That is, not only 
in righteousness and true holiness, (Eph. 4: 24) 
but free, capable of choosing between right 
and wrong. The terms of His probation (Gen. 
2:16, 17), indicate and prove his freedom. 
This endowment of freedom involved the possi- 
bility of sin. The man would not have been 
truly free, had he not been free to sin. This 
was the fearful possibility involved. But God 
could not otherwise have made the highest type 
of created being, which is a free moral agent. 
He could not otherwise make a true image of 
Himself. Inert matter obeys the inexorable 
laws of matter. It does so blindly, and without 
virtue. It has no choice. The brute obeys as 
blindly the impulses and laws of instinct. It 
does not reason, it has no choice, no conception 
of motives, no responsibility. But man reasons 
and thinks. He is susceptible to motives. He 
has the power of initiative. He has in concience 



24 THE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

the sense of right and wrong in motives, the 
consciousness of moral quality in his actions, 
and of responsibility to a higher power. These 
he cannot escape. But neither can he escape 
making a choice, and bearing responsibilty. 
This power of moral choice, buttressed by reason 
and concience, constitutes man's kinship to 
God. In it lies his inherent worth. In it also 
lies his power to go wrong. All this, and the 
possibilities which the creation of a being so en- 
dowed involved, were fully understood and 
taken into account by the Creator before He 
created man. It would be absurd to suppose 
otherwise. And taking into account the ab- 
solute goodness of God, it is inconceivable that 
He should counsel (Gen. 1:26) the creation of 
a being who should carry the possibility of sin 
in his constitutional endowments, without 
having devised in advance both the purpose 
and the method of his rescue. 

INVOLVED IN THE CREATION OP MAN. 

The purpose of redemption is morally in- 
volved in the act of creation. This purpose 
antedates and was manifestly the ground of 
the creation of man. For our creation was pur- 



FROBLEM AND PURPOSE OF REDEMPTION. 25 

posed in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:10) i. e., we 
are created in the Redeemer. The Redeemer 
is thus the real first cause of our being. He 
made us possible. All things were made by 
him; and without him was not anything made 
that was made (John 1:13). He has been ap- 
pointed heir of all things: by him also God 
made the worlds, i. e. built up the ages( Heb. 
1:13). All things were created by him and 
for him, and he is before all things, and by 
him all things exist (Col. 1:16, 17). For 
by him, and through him, and to him, are all 
things; to whom be glory forever, Amen (Rom. 
11:16). Thus it appears that the Redeemer 
of mankind is the author of creation. He is 
not only the Revelation of God, but the Ex- 
planation, the Reconciler of all things. In Him 
also the divinely designed destiny of mankind 
has its goal. If it were not for Christ, man 
would not be. In Christ Jesus God purposed 
man's redemption, and therefore his creation, 
his endowment, his possibilities, his destiny. 

This purpose of redemption was formed in 
love. God is love; therefore the redemption of 
the free being, who, created in the image of 



26 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

God, fell into transgression and guilt, incurring 
the irrevocable penalty of the law, eternal 
death. God is love; therefore Christ died for 
the ungodly. For God so loved the world, that 
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life (John 3:16). God did not 
sacrifice His Son in order that He might love 
us, but because He loved us. His love made 
Him desire, devise and procure our redemp- 
tion, and seek reconciliation with us. Christ 
did not die for us in order to appease the wrath 
of God, on the one hand, and the righteousness, 
of God on the other, but that He might be just 
and the justifier of him which believeth in 
Jesus (Rom. 3:25 25, 26). It is the Divine 
passion for human souls that called forth this 
marvellous effort and priceless sacrifice. It 
moved the eternal God in infinite compassion 
for a fallen race. 

Thus salvation is by grace, not in works, 
or merit, lest any man should boast. It goes: 
forth from the infinite mercy of Jehovah, and 
derives all its motives and its initial impulse 
from Him. Man did not suggest it. Man did 
nothing and could do nothing to merit or procure 



PBOBLEM AND PUBPOSE OF REDEMPTION. 27 

it. It is all of God and all of grace. The 
grace of God! How boundless and free! How 
all embracing, how abundant! the breadth, 
and length, and depth, and height of the love 
of God in Christ Jesus! It passeth knowledge! 

CALLED FORTH BY FALL OF MAN. 

The thing that called forth this manifesta- 
tion and proof of Divine love for mankind, is 
the fall of man into sin. As we have seen, 
God created man in His own image, and -after 
His own likeness, that is, in righteousness and 
true holiness, but free to choose between good 
and evil. His righteousness was put to the 
test, as it must have been, in order to become 
a positive virtue. Under that test he fell, and 
in so doing incurred both guilt and depravity. 

1. Guilt is the shadow of condemnation 
which the act of sin throws upon the actor. 
It is the awakening force of the law against 
its violation, and the creation of the fact and 
sense of blameworthiness because of committed 
wrong. This fact and sense of guilt or blame- 
worthiness comes only upon actual transgress- 
ors. But the Scriptures teach that this be- 



28 THE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

comes an actuality with everyone of us, who 
become old enough to choose consciously be- 
tween right and wrong. For we have all gone 
astray. (Isa. 53:6). There is not one that 
doeth good, not one. (Psa. 14:1; Eom 3:12). 
There is none righteous, no not one (Rom. 
3:10). All have sinned (Rom. 5:12, 23). 
They are all under sin (Rom. 3:9). Such is 
the indictment against us. And the word also 
says: The soul that sinneth it shall die. 
There is no possibility of escape from guilt on 
our own account, as we have seen in our first 
chapter. There is no method of deliverance 
and escape, except in the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ. We are under an obligation which we 
cannot meet; we have incurred a debt which 
we cannot pay. We are helplessly undone by 
our own wickedness. Nor is this all. 

2. The first act of disobedience on the part 
of the federal head of the race brought a con- 
dition of sinfulness into human nature, which 
is so ineradicable, that it invariably transmits 
itself to every member of the human family, 
by the law of heredity, so that every human 
being is born in this sinful condition. That is, 



PROBLEM AND PURPOSE OF REDEMPTION. 29 

sin has brought us into a depraved state. We 
are born with our back toward God. We come 
into this world with a sinful bias, a trend or 
tendency to evil. For this we are not respon- 
sible, nor are our parents, but this does not 
alter the fact, nor relieve us of the responsibil- 
ity for our own actual transgressions. 

Our condition is well described in such pas- 
sages as Isaiah 1:6: From the sole of the feet 
even unto the head there is no soundness in 
it ; Jeremiah 17-9 : The heart is deceitful above all 
things and desperately wicked : who can know it ? 
See also Rom. 1 :21-32. In Rom. 5 :12, we read : 
"For by one man, sin entered into the world, 
and death by sin." In Adam all the race 
fell into sin. Through the offence of one, many 
are dead. Rom. 5 : 15. So also we are said to 
be dead in trespasses and sins. Eph. 2 : 1. 
Dead! Incapable in ourselves of any good. 
The life of virtue is extinct. The whole man 
is under the dominion of sin— sold under sin. 
Rom. 7 : 14. Sin has poisoned his physical, 
moral, and spiritual nature. It has so ruined 
him, that every imagination of the thoughts 
of his heart is only evil continually (Gen. 6:5. 



30 THE SINNER AND EIS SAVIOUR. 

ments of unrighteousness unto sin. Kom. 6 : 13. 
It has vitiated his thoughts, warped his judg- 
ment, dwarfed his intellect, seared his con- 
science, debased his appetites, inflamed his 
passions, polluted his affections, corrupted his 
desires, enslaved his will. In every drop of 
blood, its poison flows; in every pulse its force 
appears. 

Sin not only destroys the individual. As 
is the individual, in the aggregate, so is so- 
ciety, so are the nations. The bloodshed and 
tyranny and cruelty and injustice that mark 
the history of mankind are but the outward 
manifestations of sin. Sin is the explanation 
of it. Men ask, why does God bring all this 
upon the human family? God does not bring 
it upon us. It is simply the working out of 
the effects of sin. It is the bitter harvest of 
the sinful sowing. It is the whirlwind that 
comes by the natural and moral law to those 
who sow the wind. God is not responsible for 
sin itself. It is wrong to say it comes by Di- 
vine permission. That would be to make Him 
particeps criminis. Sin came without God's per- 
mission. That is its nature. Sin is anarchy, 



PROBLEM AND PURPOSE OF REDEMPTION. SI 

lawlessness. Sin came by man's consent, not 
God's. With sin came sorrow, pain, death, 
and all the evils and ills that afflict mankind. 
These are here because sin is here. Man the 
sinner, is also the sufferer. The law works out 
its penalty upon transgressors, and makes no 
mistakes. 

THE RUIN OF THE RACE. 

The whole human race is one great cess- 
pool of iniquity and of wrong. Apparently the 
innocent suffer most, but in reality, those who 
often seem freest from pain, though greatest 
in guilt, suffer in the end the keenest sorrows. 
They may enjoy life for a season, but troubles 
come often at last. There is no injustice, no 
favoritism in the government of God. But sin 
works out its dire results without fail, the 

GREAT TRUTH IS, MAN IS A SINNER, AND AS 
SUCH IN NEED OF SALVATION. Sin is not 

an episode in the evolution of the race, 
not a necessary step in man's progress toward 
civilization, not a symbolical representation of 
primitive savagery, but a catastrophe, a tra- 
gedy in the history of human experience, a 
mighty moral fact, whose grip is relentlessly 



32 THE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

fastened on the human soul. This is not only 
the teaching of the word of God, but of human 
experience, of conscience and consciousness, 
and of history. The fact of sin is obvious. It 
cannot be ignored by anyone who would un- 
derstand either history or providence. Nor can 
we deny its presence and power in our hearts 
and lives. It is the serpent against whose 
deadly coils Laocoon struggles desperately, but 
in vain. It is the supreme moral tragedy of 
the universe, the poison in the cup of human 
happiness, the sting of death, the source and 
cause of all human misery and pain. Doctor 
Guthrie thus describes sin: 

Sin is a debt, a burden, a thief, a sickness, a 
leprosy, a plague, a poison, a serpent, a sting; every- 
thing that man hates, sin is. It is the sexton that 
digs his grave. It is the murderer that destroys his 
life. It is the fair siren who, seated on the rock, by 
the deadly pool, smiles to deceive, sings to lure, kisses 
to betray, and flings her arm around our neck to leap 
with us into perdition. 

God alone could meet the case. He alone 
fully understood and correctly estimated the 
force of evil. He alone was both able and will- 
ing to undertake man's restoration and rescue. 
The problem, as we have seen— if we may speak 
of problems in the mind of God,— was not an 
easy one. It was not a problem of physics or 



PBOBLEM AND PURPOSE OF REDEMPTION. 33 

mechanics, or mathematics. It was a sublime 
moral problem, how can god be just and 
justify the ungodly? The problem be- 
ing presented, and the purpose being formed, 
what was God's method of procedure? We 
have already seen that both the Purpose and 
the Plan by which the Purpose is accomplished 
are alike wholly Divine, and known to us only 
by revelation. We therefore depend wholly 
upon the word of God for answer. Man could 
not invent it. He could not even desire it, for 
he was dead in his trespasses and sins. 



34 TEE SINNER AND EIS SAVIOUB. 

CHAPTER III. 

THE REDEEMER AND HIS WORK. 

THE LAMB SLAIN. 

In the fifth chapter of the book of Revela- 
tion we have a most dramatic vision of the 
coming forth of the Son of God for the re- 
demption of the world. "In the hand of Him 
that sat upon the throne " the Seer saw a 
"book" or roll, written within and without, on 
the back side, sealed with seven seals." A 
challenge is proclaimed to the assembled throng 
of heavenly hierarchies: "Who is worthy to 
open the book and to loose the seals thereof?" 
That book contained the mystery of redemption, 
the problem of salvation. The scene is laid in 
the bosom of eternity, No one ventured for- 
ward. There was no response. The Seer wept 
in sorrow, if not in despair, for if that book 
cannot be opened, if that problem cannot be 
solved, if no one is found capable of under- 
taking this stupendous exploit, then the sinner's 
doom is sealed ; Hell is sure of her prey. Then 
are blotted out all of earth's fairest hopes, and 



TEE REDEEMER AND HIS WORK. 35 

every radiant star is extinguished. But the 
sorrowing Seer is quickly comforted. "Weep 
not," said an elder to him, "For behold the 
Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David 
hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose 
the seven seals thereof." And when the Seer 
looked, he saw, not a Lion, but "a Lamb as it 
had been slain." And when He had taken the 
book, they sang a new song— the song of de- 
liverance, redemption, atonement. They cele- 
brated a complete success, the final triumph, in 
an exploit so magnificent as to be without any 
comparison whatever. 

The steps in the execution of the plan of 
redemption by which provision was made, fully, 
for the salvation of all men, are next to be 
noted. 

THE INCARNATION. 

1. The Incarnation. Sin had separated us 
from God. A middle wall of partition had been 
raised between us and our God. In some way 
God must re-establish vital relations between 
Himself and us. This was accomplished fifst 
by the incarnation. God was manifested in the 
flesh (1. Tim. 3:16). The word was made 



36 TEE SINNEB AND HIS SAVIOUB. 

flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and 
truth (St. John 1:14). The Son of God be- 
came the Son of Man. And His name was 
called Jesus — Savior. In the language of the 
Creed: "He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, 
born of the Virgin Mary. Here we stand before 
the mystery of the incarnation. This truth has 
been ridiculed and doubted and explained 
away. But the truth of it remains. That it 
is supernatural no one denies. But supernatur- 
alness is no proof of unreality. We do not here 
argue the question at length. We only point 
out, that the person and character, the moral 
supremacy and spiritual superiority of Jesus 
cannot otherwise be accounted for. The pheno- 
menon of both moral and intellectual perfec- 
tion, unique as it is, stamps Him at once as 
something more than human. And perfection 
is conceded by His critics and His enemies to 
have been peculiar to Him. Those who deny 
the true Deity of Jesus our Savior, are bound 
to account for the perfection of His character 
and teaching, and for His increasing influence 
in the human world, upon some other adequate 
ground, which they have never yet pointed out. 
The Person of Jesus must be conceded to be 



TEE EEDEEMEE AND HIS WORK. 37 

as much superior to that of earth's best 
teachers, as the quality of His teaching and in- 
fluence is superior to theirs. There cannot be 
an effect without an adequate cause. 

But it is enough for us here to point out 
that the Scripture plainly teaches the Deity of 
Jesus Christ. Divine attributes are ascribed to 
Him, Divine acts of power and wisdom are re- 
corded of Him, Divine qualities are predicated 
of Him, Divine honors are given to Him. He 
is very God, not a manifestation of God, but 
the manifested God, not merely the revealer of 
God, but the Revelation of God. He is the 
brightness of Jehovah's glory, the express image 
of His person (Heb. 1, 3). He is the image of 
the invisible God (Col. 2, 9). In whom are 
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge 
(Col. 2, 3). For it pleased the Father that 
in him should all fullness dwell (Col. 1, 19). 
The word was God (Jno. 1, 1.) 

There is therefore no doubt as to the teach- 
ing of the Scripture. These passages are simple 
and unequivocal. And indeed how glad we are 
that this is so, for even uncertainty on this 
point would be fatal. Every man who ever 



38 TEE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUB. 

comes to realize any adequate consciousness of 
sin, feels that only God can save him. If Christ 
is not Divine, this world has no adequate Sav- 
iour. And all who have experienced the grace 
of God in their personal salvation are ready to 
cry out that " Christ is the son op god 
with power." In Him omnipotence is 
stretched out toward human helplessness. In 
His fullness there is a supply for all our empti- 
ness and thirst. In His infinity of love is the 
antidote for all our mean and narrow selfish- 
ness. 

But this Deity of nature is revealed in man- 
hood. He, being in the form of God, who 
"thought it not robbery to be equal with God, 
made himself of no reputation, and took upon 
himself the form of a servant, and was made in 
the likeness of men, and was found in fashion 
as a man" (Phil. 2:6-8). In reference to him 
Isaiah said: "Unto us a child is born, unto us 
a son is given" (Isa. 9, 6). Of his birth it is 
said: "She (Mary) brought forth her first-born 
son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes 
and laid him in a manger." (Luke 2, 7). How 
perfectly simple and normally human is all 



TEE EEDEEMEB AND HIS WORK. 39 

this. He always called himself the Son of 
man, rarely the Son of God, though he per- 
mitted others to give Him the latter title. 

His humanity was a real living in flesh and 
blood. He was human in His mode of existence 
and in His limitations; human in His suscept- 
ibility to pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow; 
human in modes of thought and forms of 
speech; human in all His physical needs, His 
intellectual activities and moral powers. Human 
also in His experiences. He entered into the 
common lot of mankind, sharing its sorrows 
and privations, taking upon Himself our sins 
and weaknesses, entering into its temptations 
and tests, touched with the feeling of our infirm- 
ities, tempted in all points like as we are, yet 
without sin. Though He were a Son, yet learn- 
ing obedience by the things which He suffered, 
and made perfect through suffering, shaken 
with fear and anguish even unto strong crying 
and tears. In short in Him God not only be- 
came our Father, but our Brother, our fellow 
Sufferer. In Him the Fatherhood of God, and 
the Brotherhood of man are realized. With- 
out Him, these ideas have no foundation in 
reality. In Him, God projected Himself into 



40 TEE SINNEE AND EIS SAVIOUR. 

human nature, human experience, and human 
life. 

Only in one point, and that the point of 
supreme significance, is Jesus differentiated 
from universal humanity, and that is, in His 
sinlessness. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, 
and separate from sinners. — Without sin, not 
only in act, but in nature. Yet He came close 
enough to us to save us. His sinlessness gave 
Him the fulcrum Archimedes wished for, with 
which to lift the world. His humanity placed 
Him in perfect sympathy with us. He was 
made a little lower than the angels (Heb. 3, 9) ; 
He, the Sanctifier, became one with those whom 
He sanctified, "for which cause He is not 
ashamed to call them brethren' ' (Heb. 3,11). 
"For verily, He took not on Him the nature of 
angels, but the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, 
in all things it behooved Him to be made like 
unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful 
High Priest, for in that He Himself hath suff- 
ered, being tempted, he is able to succor them 
that are tempted" (Heb. 3:16-18). 

Could union be closer, or identity more real, 
than that? Man who by Creation is in the 



TEE BEDEEMEB AND HIS WOKK. 41 

image of God, thus became the organ of the 
revelation of God to man. God could reveal 
His will in deeds, His thoughts in words of 
human speech, His moral quality in Provi- 
dence, but He could reveal Himself to man, 
only through and in man. The Divine Person 
must be articulated in human personality to 
be savingly apprehended by men. So He said 
to Philip, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the 
Father. And how sayest thou: Show us the 
Father ?" (Jno. 14, 9). 

THE ATONEMENT. 

2. The Atonement. But the purpose of the 
incarnation was not only to give us an adequate 
revelation of God, but to furnish the medium 
of atonement. "Sacrifice and offering thou 
wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared 
me. . . .Then said I: Lo I come, (in the volume 
of the book it is written of me) to do thy will 
God" (Heb. 10:5-7). He came in the flesh 
that He might die in the flesh, that He might 
shed the red blood of real human life, and 
make His soul, or life, an offering for sin. He 
took upon Himself a human body that He 
might bear our sins. We are sanctified through 



42 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

the offering of the body of Christ (Heb. 10, 10). 
His flesh was the veil, rent, that He might 
consecrate for us a new and living way. (Heb. 
10, 20). We have boldness to enter into the 
holiest by the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10, y9). 
His wounds are the gate-way to the throne of 
grace and the heart of God. 

(a) The Scripture plainly teaches that the 
death of Jesus was vicarious, that is, substi- 
tutional. While we were yet sinners, Christ 
died for us (Rom. 5:8), that is, in our stead, 
in our behalf. Christ died for (instead of and 
for the sake of) the ungodly (Rom. 5:6). 
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man 
lay down his life for his friends (Jno. 15: 13). 
That is what is meant by vicarious dying. The 
good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep 
(Jno. 10:11), that is, in order to save them 
from the wolf. For He hath made Him to be 
sin (Gr. sin offering) for us, who knew no sin, 
that we might be made the righteousness of 
God in him (2 Cor. 5:22). He tasted death 
for every man (Heb. 29). He was wounded 
for our transgressions, He was bruised for our 
iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was 
upon Him; by His stripes we are healed (Isa. 



TEE EEDEEMER AND HIS WORE, 43 

53:5). Passages distinctly expressing this 
truth are too numerous to quote or cite. The 
entire Levitical law teaches this truth, that 
Christ sacrificed Himself in our place and in 
our behalf, in such a way that God accepts his 
suffering and sacrifice in lieu of our guilt and 
punishment which must otherwise justly come 
upon us. Not that He paid our debt abso- 
lutely, finally, and unconditionally, but He 
made provision that upon our meeting certain 
stated conditions, our debt may be, and will 
be, freely cancelled. Forgiveness to us is 
merited by the sacrifice of Christ for us. 

(b) The death of Christ was voluntary. I 
lay down my life that I might take it again. 
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down 
of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I 
have power to take it again. (Jno. 17:1-18). 
To Pilate He said: Thou couldst have no 
power at all against me, except it were given 
thee from above. (Jno. 19:11). 

(c) The death of Christ was a perfect sacri- 
fice, perfect in moral quality, perfect in purity, 
perfect in wholeness. He offered Himself with- 
out spot to God (Heb. 9: 14). He was slain as 



44 THE SINNEB AND BIS SAVIOUB. 

a lamb without spot or blemish (2 Pet. 3:14). 
His perfect and sinless humanity, stamped with 
infinite worth by the seal of His perfect and 
real Divinity, offered voluntarily in our stead, 
was a sacrifice not only well pleasing to God, 
but of sufficient value to atone for the sins of 
the whole world. He is the propitiation for our 
sins, and not for ours only, but also for the 
sins of the whole world (1 Jno. 2:2). He 
redeemed us from the curse of the law being 
made a curse for us, that is, His curse became 
a substitute and equivalant for that which we 
justly deserved, in such a way that we may go 
free, and have peace with God, through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. He was delivered for our 
offences and rose again for our justification. 
By His own blood He obtained eternal redemp- 
tion for us. His death was the means of our 
redemption. His blood is the ransom price for 
our souls. Without the shedding of blood,, 
there is no remission, for in the blood is the 
life. 

Even thus is the Cross the hope and joy 
and glory of the world. On the Cross atone- 
ment was made. The balance sheet of the 



TEE BEDEEMER AND HIS WORK. 45 

moral government of God was struck on Cal- 
vary. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propi- 
tiation through faith in His blood, to declare 
his righteousness for the remission of sins that 
are past, through the forbearance of God; to 
declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: 
that he might be just, and the justifier of Him 
which believeth in Jesus" (Rom. 3:25, 26). 
Love, infinite and supreme, brought the stup- 
endous sacrifice which righteousness demanded, 
and now we may be freely justified by His 
grace through the redemption that is in Christ 
Jesus. Christ solved the problem of forgiveness. 
On the basis of Christ's atonement, God is able 
to pardon sin without any infraction of the 
moral integrity of His nature and government, 
on the one hand, and without the abandonment 
of that wholesome and necessary discipline 
which in pardoning a sinner on any other basis 
would make the sinner more reckless and dis- 
obedient, on the other. God is eternally just and 
absolutely righteous, therefore the demand for a 
righteous adjustment of human wrong. God is 
love, therefore His inmost nature prompted the 
giving of His only begotten Son (Jno. 3:16). 
Christ died in accordance with the joint de- 



46 THE SIN NEB AND HIS SAVIOUB. 

mand of both righteousness and love, and there- 
fore there is no just bar to pardon. The hand- 
writing of ordinances which was against us, 
Jesus took out of the way, nailing it to His 
Cross (Col. 2 14). God is just as well as merci- 
ful, in forgiving sin, and saving sinners. 



TEE CONDITION OF SALVATION. 47 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. 

THE CONSENT OF THE HUMAN WILL. 

In the provisions of the Gospel, through the 
incarnation and atonement of Jesus Christ, 
God has met, unconditionally the needs of the 
human soul. He stooped to our helplessness, 
and did that for us which we could not do for 
ourselves, and did it generously, royally, di- 
vinely. In the face of all our wickedness, God 
willed our salvation, and provided salvation 
from all sin for all men. As in Adam all die, 
so in Christ, the second man, all are made alive, 
potentially. Where sin abounded, grace did 
much more abound. That as sin reigned unto 
death, even so might grace reign through right- 
eousness. The righteousness of God is declared 
and vindicated in Jesus Christ, and imparted un- 
to us by the Holy Ghost as the power of a right- 
eous life— unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our 
Lord (Rom. 5:20, 21). 

SALVATION CONDITIONAL. 

Yet it must be admitted that not all men are 



48 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

actually saved. Christ died in vain in the case 
of some, so far as their personal salvation and 
eternal happiness is concerned, which they 
never experience or attain. The gifts and 
calling of God are without repentance, but the 
experience of salvation, the gift of eternal life 
comes only upon positively stated, and well de- 
fined conditions which we must fulfill. This 
is based upon several very evident facts in the 
nature of God and in the constitution of man, 
for the plan of salvation, including the con- 
ditions of its personal realization, is what it is, 
because God is what He is. In motive and 
method, in purpose and content, the plan of 
salvation is the supreme manifestation of the 
nature and will of God, on the one hand, and 
perfectly adapted to the nature, constitution, 
condition, and highest well-being of man, on the 
other. 

God is holy, just, pure, and good, perfectly 
so in all respects. He is holy, therefore must 
and does require holiness in us. He is free in 
His holiness, and holy in His freedom. He is 
holy also in His love. He loves the sinner, the 
fallen human being with infinite love, and 



TEE CONDITION OF SALVATION. 49 

proves it by the sacrifice of His Son, the 
highest, holiest, costliest sacrifice that even God 
could make. But at the same time He hates 
sin, with a perfect divine hatred, and proves 
that by the same sacrifice. The Cross stands 
both for the depth of God's love for man the 
sinner, and for the intensity and reality of 
His hatred for sin. It expresses His passion 
for the removal of that which has brought 
enmity between Himself and His creature, man. 
Sin runs in the blood, hence sinless blood must 
flow for our deliverance from it. The sacrifice 
was lovingly made. 

But man is also free. He has a will of his 
own, and may set his will against God's will. 
He became a sinner by preferring sin. Prefer- 
ence for sin consequently became the trend and 
bias of his nature. Ultimate salvation there- 
fore is in no sense mechanical, or a taking of the 
man from one place to another, but an eradica- 
tion of this "bent to sinning," and a restora- 
tion of the soul to harmonious fellowship with 
God in righteousness and true holiness. The 
sinner is to be saved from his sins, not only 
from guilt, but from the sinful affections and 



50 THE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

desires which lead him astray and soil and spoil 
his character. This cannot be done, — not- 
withstanding all the provisions of Gospel grace, 
— without man's consent. The man must will 
to be saved. He must make deliberate choice 
of God and of His way of salvation. 

In this aspect of the case the human will 
is supreme, its decision final. There is no ap- 
peal from it. The grace of God intervening in 
our fall, preserved within us and amid the 
wreckage of our lives, this God-like power of a 
free choice. The human will is autocratic. 
We can not, it is true, do in all things as we 
please; in physical, intellectual, and social re- 
lations, we are to a large extent, creatures of 
circumstances. We are molded by environ- 
ment; certain tendencies within us are hered- 
itary family traits ; we are influenced by other 
and stronger minds; we are forced by condi- 
tions which we cannot control. But in the de- 
termination of our future destiny, in the choice 
of our attitude and relation toward God, we 
are absolutely autocratic. We can do as we 
please, but we must take the consequences. We 
can resist God, or we can yield to Him. Nothing 
can interfere. The influence of the Holy Spirit, 



THE CONDITION OF SALVATION. 51 

in persuading us to accept life in Christ is 
purely and wholly persuasive; it is not com- 
pulsory. The influence of evil, of the arch 
enemy of the soul is great, but it is persuasive, 
not compulsory. If a man determines by de- 
liberate choice to live in sin and go to perdition, 
God cannot save him. God can do a great deal 
—He has done a great deal— what has He not 
done to save us?! But He does not force us; 
He does not violate the sovereignty of the 
human will. A man can go to perdition if he 
wants to. Nothing, not even God, can prevent 
him, if that is his final purpose and choice. 

But it is also true that if a man resolves to 
submit to God and accept salvation in Jesus 
Christ; if he determines to flee the wrath to 
come and go to Heaven, all the forces of the pit 
cannot keep him out of Heaven. He can be 
saved if he wants to. The moment he deter- 
mines upon this course, he enters upon a league 
with God Almighty. All the resources of 
omnipotence, that are in the service of redemp- 
tion are marshalled in his behalf. God is on 
his side, because he has put himself on God's 
side. And if God be for him, who can be 
against him? He can if he will. So 



52 THE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

then the first prerequisite is decision. A man 
must decide, and decide for himself. The pos- 
session of a sovereign will lays the responsibility 
at his door. He holds his destiny in his own 
hands. 

So near to grandeur is our dust, 

So near to God is man, 

When Duty whispers, "Lo, thou must, " 

The soul replies, "I can. " 

"Nothing," said Mirabeau, " is impossible 
to the man who can will. Is that necessary? 
Then that shall be. This is the law of success/' 

When he comes to a right decision, his will 
and God's will coincide in a common purpose. 
This is not only the first fundamental re- 
quisite to salvation, but it is the essential ele- 
ment in all that eventuates in a man's salva- 
tion (Phil. 2:12, 13). There must be coinci- 
dence; there must be divine and human co- 
operation. But this meaus that man must 
come around to God's way. God will never 
come around to man's whims or ways. There 
must be a merging of the human will in the 
divine, a blending of the human spirit with the 
Divine, until, like two lovers, God and we are 
as 



TEE CONDITION OF SALVATION. 53 

"Two souls with but a single thought, 
Two hearts that beat as one. n 

IS MAN TOTALLY DEPRAVED? 

The question now arises, how is all this 
possible in man's fallen condition? Is not the 
man utterly helpless and incapable of any good? 
Is not the man totally depraved? To this last 
question we answer, Yes, and No. He is to- 
tally depraved in the sense that his entire 
being, spirit, soul, and body, with all his 
powers, faculties, and members is affected by 
the fall. "The trail of the serpent is over it 
all." But he is not totally depraved in the 
sense that he is not redeemable. He is not 
fallen beyond the possibility of restoration. 
Man is a terrible wreck, but there is some good 
material under the debris. 

"Down in the human heart, 

Crushed by the tempter, 
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore. 

Touched by a loving heart 

Wakened by kindness, 
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more. ' ' 

This too is due to the grace of God, which 
intervened in our fall, and prevented us from 
falling beyond redemption. As we have seen, 



• 54 TH E SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

the free will remains, so also conscience re- 
mains, the susceptibility to motives remains; 
the intelligent judgment remains; immortality 
remains; the soul's inherent indestructibility 
remains. Though the powers and faculties of 
our moral and intellectual natures are not in 
their normal strength, and though anarchy 
largely reigns, yet the capacity for restoration 
remains. The materials are here for the re- 
building of the Lord's temple. Then the 
Spirit of God, who is sent forth to make the 
Gospel of the grace of God potential in the 
hearts of men, works upon their hearts un- 
conditionally. He works both to will and to 
do — that is both the disposition of mind, and 
the capacity to perform— of His good pleasure. 
Therefore we are exhorted to work out our 
own salvation (Phil. 2:12, 13). He worketh 
all things after the counsel of His own will 
(Eph. 1:11). He is a power that worketh in 
us. (Eph. 3:20). 

1. The Holy Ghost awakens and enlightens 
the soul. This is the Light that lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9). 

2. He convinces men of sin, of righteous- 



TEE COXDITIOX OF SALT AT I OX. 55 

ness. and of judgment to come (John 16:8). 
4 'Of sin." says the Savior, "because they be- 
lieve not on Me (verse 9). That is, the Holy 
Spirit convinces of the sin of unbelief, and of 
the rejection of our only Savior, which is the 
acme of rebellion against God. '''Of righteous- 
ness, because I go to my Father" (v. 10). That 
is. my character and authority are vindicated 
by my ascension and exaltation. Him whom 
men crucified and rejected. God has exalted 
to his right hand, to be a Prince and a Savior, 
and thus the fact of the Savior's holiness is pro- 
claimed to the comdemnation of sinners. ''Of 
jud'_rment, because the prince of this world is 
judged.'' That is. the evil master whom men 
have chosen to serve is condemned and doomed, 
as the antipodes of all good. It is the work of 
the Holy Spirit to bring all this to bear upon 
the conscience and judgment of men. He es- 
pecially convinces guilty men of their sin. 

3. He calls men to repentance and salvation. 
He speaks to them in conscience. The conscience 
also bearing witness (to the work of the law in 
the heart), and their thoughts the mean-while 
accusing or else excusing one another. (Rom. 



56 THE SINNED AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

2.15). For the gifts and calling of God are 
without repentance. (Rom. 11:29). 

All this grace comes to us through the Gos- 
pel, unconditionally. Our need of salvation, 
the possibility of salvation, our responsibility 
and privilege in regard thereto are presented 
plainly before the mind. We become keenly, 
painfully, involuntarily, conscious of all this. 
But we can stifle conviction, we can sear the 
conscience, we can stiffen the neck, and harden 
the heart; we can close eyes and ears, — we can 
fight against God. We can refuse to yield to 
conviction, and to act upon the high sense of 
duty. The Spirit will strive with us, but we 
may successfully strive against him. We may 
say, I will not, when he says we ought. He may 
call, and we may deliberately refuse to hear 
and heed. Thus we come finally, to the parting 
of the ways. Many do this. 0, it is a fatal 
crime, to thus do despite the Spirit of grace. 
This is the crucial point. It is the valley of de- 
cision. It is the diamond pivot of destiny. For 
the Spirit will not always strive with man. (Gen. 
6:3). They resist to their own death. A time 
comes when the fiat goes forth from the throne : 



TEE CONDITION OF SALVATION. 57 

Let Ephrain alone: he is joined to his idols. 
(Hos. 4:17). 

1 ■ There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
Wlhich, taken at its rise leads on to fortune, 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
Is bound in shallows, and in miseries. 
On such a full sea are we now afloat; 
And we must take the current when it serves, 
Or lose our ventures. ' ' 

Julius Ceasar IV. 3. 

Happy he who heeds when he hears the voice 
of God in his soul. In the direction of the 
current of the Holy Spirit's work lies peace at 
the foot of the cross, and joy and safety. 
Eternal life is in that call. But we must make 
the call effective. The Spirit who works in us 
both to will and to do, does not destroy our 
power to say no. He calls, He sets before us 
life and death and says, "Choose ye," but we 
must answer. There is no more thrilling crisis 
in a human life, than the moment when the 
Spirit of God earnestly calls us to repentance. 
Three worlds hang in supense, and await in 
breathless anxiety, our choice. Do we say no, 
to God, in that solemn and holy crisis? That 
means to close the door of hope with our own 
hands, and refuse by our own choice the only 



58 TH E SINNEB AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

chance of salvation. It means to requite the in- 
finite love of God with ingratitude, and reject 
with vulgar hardness the gentle wooing of His 
Spirit. It is to make the death of Christ of 
none effect in our behalf. It is to make the 
message of life, a savor of death unto death. 
It is to nullify the very purpose of God, and 
to refuse to our own eternal hurt the supreme 
and holy desire of God for our salvation. For 
the work of the Holy Spirit in persuading us 
to forsake sin, is but the continuation of that 
mighty love that moved the eternal God to die 
for men. He stirs the human spirit to action 
by the blood red argument of Calvary. And 
the rejection of His call is the rejection of God, 
and of His marvelous love. Nothing can be 
more pathetic than this life long struggle of 
the Spirit of God, under the impulse of the 
love revealed on Calvary, to save a perverted 
human being from himself, from his own per- 
versity and corruption, and from the conse- 
quences of a course of sin. 

THE WOOING OF THE SPIRIT. 

With the first dawn of moral consciousness 
this wooing of the Spirit begins. It continues 



TEE CONDITION OF SALVATION. 59 

through the high tide of life, often to the period 
of gray hairs and decrepitude. Long after 
human patience and love would be exausted, 
the gentle, patient Spirit of God broods over 
the dying soul, seeking to win it unto life eter- 
nal. Truly, "the mercy of God is from ever- 
lasting to everlasting (Psa. 103:17). Israel 
shall be saved with an everlasting salvation 
(Isa. 45:17). The Lord hath appeared of old 
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with 
an everlasting love; therefore with loving 
kindness have I drawn thee (Jer. 31:3). 
Wherefore, I will yet plead with you, saith the 
Lord, and with your children's shildren will 
I plead (Jer. 2:9). The Lord hath a contro- 
versy with his people, and he will plead with 
Israel (Mic. 6:2). Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
thou that killest the prophets and stonest them 
which are sent unto thee, how often would I 
have gathered thy children together, even as 
a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
but ye would not! (Matt. 23:37). Come unto 
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and 
I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28). Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on 
me hath everlasting life (John 6:47). And 



60 TH E SINNEE AND EIS SAVIOUB. 

the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let 
Him that heareth, say come. And let him that 
is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him 
take the water of life freely" itev. 22: 17). 

In the parable of the great Supper (Luke 
14. 16-24,) the Savior represents the chosen 
guests as excusing themselves, and as declining 
the invitation. The servants were then sent 
out into the "highways and hedges," and were 
told to compel them to come in, i. e. use 
most earnest persuasion to get them to come in, 
The others rejected the invitation, and lost not 
only the royal bounty of the supper, but the 
friendship of the rejected host. All these and 
many other passages of the same tenor, make it 
too clear for further argument, that the Gospel 
through the Spirit offers men salvation as a 
free gift, and that they are free to accept or 
reject it. Their will decrees the case for them- 
selves, but they lose all that heaven means, all 
that eternal life means, they lose their souls, 
by rejecting the Savior, and resisting the per- 
suasions of the Holy Spirit. 

THE CALLS OF PROVIDENCE. 

So God also seeks to win men by His pro- 



THE CONDITION OF SALVATION. Ql 

vidence. The providence of God, whatever its 
mysteries, is redemptional. "Or despisest thou 
the riches of his goodness and forbearance? 
(Rom. 3:4). The Lord is not slack concerning 
His promises, as some men count slackness; but 
is long suffering to usward, not willing that 
any should perish, but that all should come to 
repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9). For this reason, God 
delays His judgments, and lengthens out the 
time for probation, that men might repent. 
"Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked 
should die? saith the Lord God; and not re- 
turn from his ways and live?" (Ezek. 18:23). 
In Luke 13 : 8, 9, the vine dresser pleads for 
the barren fig-tree: "Lord, let it alone this 
year also, till I shall dig about it and dung 
it; And if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then 
after that thou shalt cut it down. ' ' 

God's providences are for the most part 
veiled from our eyes. We do not recognize 
them. They work under the guise of natural 
laws, and forces. But all the time He is seek- 
ing to lead us to repentance. Does He daily 
load us with benefits? It is that we may repent. 
Does He lead us to the verge of some precipice, 
some yawning gulf, some sudden danger? It is 



62 THE SIN NEB AND HIS SAVIOUB. 

that we may repent. Does He send death's 
arrows flying thickly around us, cutting down 
those near and dear to us? It is that we may 
repent. Does He send sickness, or misfortune 
or adversity? It is that we may learn our de- 
pendence, our frailty, the fleeting character of 
earthly good, and wean our hearts away from 
earthly idols. 

PERSUADED BY THE WORD. 

Further, He seeks to persuade us by His 
Word, written and spoken; by the prayers and 
songs of His people; by the ringing of church 
bells, the heavenward pointing of church 
steeples, the voices of preachers, and Sunday 
School teachers. He awakens the voice of our 
own conscience, until its imperious " ought* ' 
reverberates in the temple of the soul, as though 
the long dead thunders of Sinai had risen from 
their age long slumbers. And all these batter- 
ies are turned upon the central citadel of the 
human will. That is, in the last analysis, the 
one thing that stands between the sinner and 
salvation. If that yields, heaven is won, and 
the soul is saved. If the will stouts it out, the 
soul and all is lost. It is said to be an easy 



THE CONDITION OF SALVATION. 63 

thing to be lost ! But the sinner who goes down 
to perdition despite all these influences that 
go out from the heart of God, must fight his 
way against all the angels of his better self, 
against all that is holy and good, down to per- 
dition. It is a fight at fearful odds, but alas! 
many win even in this unequal battle, and lose 
their all. 

As Doctor Parker says: 

The salvation of men is the supreme difficulty of 
God. Jesus Christ said: Ye will not come unto me 
that ye may have life. The great difficulty is to do 
right in any way. The whole head is sick, the whole 
heart faint. Through and through, up and down, we 
are wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; the 
right hand is crippled, and the left hand withered; 
and the head is guilty, and the heart irregular, and 
the foot skilled in going backward. What wonder when 
the grand climax, the sovereign appeal, is reached to 
surrender to God and love Him, that we come upon 
the supreme difficulty! 



64 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

CHAPTER V. 

CONDITIONS OF SALVATION (Continued) 

EVANGELICAL REPENTANCE AND SAVING FAITH. 

Now to the heart that yields at this critical 
point, there is but a step to the first great con- 
dition of salvation namely, repentance. The 
heart that yields, melts; the heart that resists, 
hardens. Repentance is the first vital condition 
of salvation. There is no salvation without it. 
Repent ye! This was the initial demand of the 
Gospel age. It was taken up by John the Bap- 
tist in the wilderness. It was the burden of 
all his preaching, the meaning and purpose of 
his rite of baptism. It was the one message 
of that greatest of all prophets, the Savior's 
forerunner. It was the one thing that could 
prepare the people for the coming of the 
Savior. It is ever so. He can come only to 
those who thus prepare the way before Him. 
The disciples took up the same message (Mk. 
6:12; Acts 26:20). "Except ye repent, ye shall 
all likewise perish (Luke 13:3). Repent ye 
therefore, and be converted that your sins may 



TEE CONDITIONS OF SALVATION (Continued) 65 

be blotted out, etc., (Acts 3.19). God com- 
mandeth all men everywhere to repent (Acts 
17:30). Paul ever testified both to Jews and 
also to Greeks, repentance to God, and faith 
toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20: 21). 

But what is Evangelical repentance? As to 
its origin, it is divinely wrought. It does not 
spring from our own native impulses, nor is it 
the work of our own will, except passively, and 
that, by the help of the Holy Spirit. 

As to its nature it contains three prime ele- 
ments, sorrow for sin, confession of sin, and 
breaking off from sin. 

REPENTANCE. 

The best definition of repentance in the 
Word of God is found in 2 Cor. 7 : 10, where 
Paul says : ' ' For godly s orrow worketh re- 
pentance to salvation, not to be repented of." 
It is not that flippant regret of a criminal at 
being found out, or that hyprocritical sorrow 
whose tears are an intended appeal for clemency 
or the sorrow of the fear of punishment. It 
is a godly sorrow, thoroughly sincere, the result 
of yielding to conviction; the effect upon the 



66 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

soul of an adequate recognition of the sinful- 
ness of sin, and the loathsomeness of our own 
individual sin. It is a deep, sincere regret at 
having committed wrong. It is an acknowledge- 
ment of guilt, a confession of blameworthi- 
ness. It is sorrow for sin in itself. If this 
sorrow be wrought by the Holy Spirit it will 
be in the right motive. It will more than likely 
break open the fountain of tears. Why should 
we not weep over our sins? Is it in any sense 
an unworthy emotionalism? Our Savior wept 
and groaned, and sweat as it were great drops 
of blood, for our sins! Should we refuse to 
weep over our own sins? Should we not rather 
be ashamed not to weep? He shed His blood, 
and are we loath to shed our tears? One thing 
is sure: so long as we are not full of sorrow 
for sin, we are not in any condition to receive 
salvation, nor have we any promise. The sacri- 
fices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and 
a contrite heart, God, thou wilt not despise 
(Psa. 51:17). 

There must also be a confession of sin. This 
not necessarily to men, but unto God. For 
with the mouth confession is made unto salva- 



TEE CONDITIONS OF SALVATION (Continued) 67 

tion (Rom. 10:10). If we confess our sins, 
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 
1 Jno. 1:9). We need to come before God in 
the spirit of the publican: God be merciful to 
me, a sinner (Luke 18. 13), in the spirit of the 
fifty-first Psalm: I acknowledge my trans- 
gressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against 
thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this 
evil in thy sight (Psa. 51 : 3, 4) ; in the spirit of 
the prodigal son, Father, I have sinned against 
heaven and in thy sight (Luke 15:21). It is 
an essential self - surrender, to acknowledge 
ourselves guilty before God. A plea of guilty 
must precede a pardon. 

But the essential element of repentance, 
ethically considered, is the turning right about 
face, the breaking off from sin. This is, in 
reality, the human side or element of conver- 
sion. It is not enough to weep and make con- 
fession: We must stop sinning. Sin is the 
thing that stands in the way of salvation, while 
it is everything also that makes salvation neces- 
sary. Therefore ceasing to sin is necessarily a 
condition of salvation. Says Fairchild. 



68 THE SINNER AND BIS SAVIOUR. 

As it is the turning point from sin to holiness; 
it is called conversion, turning. In this view, and to 
this extent the change is wholly moral— a voluntary 
change. The man himself has power to make the 
change, (by the grace of God,— S. P. S.) and no 
other being can make it for him. Sin is man's free 
action; so also is obedience. Thus the Scriptures 
everywhere hold the sinner responsible for the change.. 

The demand of the 'Scriptures is summed 
up in this : Cease to do evil ; learn to do well. 
(Isa. 1:16, 17). Bring forth therefore fruits 
meet for repentance (Matt. 3:8; Lk. 3:8). 
And its practical application is stated in such 
words as these: "Let him that stole steal no 
more" (Eph. 4.28). In other words, stop sin- 
ning. It is not enough to be sorry for sin, un- 
less we are sorry enough to quit. Every tree 
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn 
down, and cast into the fire (Lk. 3:9). The 
man who only weeps and confesses, and then 
goes on in his sinful practices, is not truly peni- 
tent. He must stop lying, swearing, stealing, 
cheating, drinking, and whatever practices he 
clearly recognizes as sinful. 

And if his repentance is genuine, he will do 
so, for God worketh in him, both to will and to 
do of his good pleasure. Too much stress can- 



TEE CONDITIONS OF SALVATION (Continued) 69 

not be laid on this. There is such a tendency to 
shallowness and compromise, that it should be 
emphasized that men must stop sinning, if they 
expect to be saved from sin. Salvation is not 
an evolution, but a revolution, not an outward 
reformation, but an inward transformation. 
A man cannot be saved from sin, unless in his 
choice he separates himself from it. 

Such a repentance is a change of attitude, 
which, if it become permanent, involves a change 
of character. It is a change in the course of 
life, and leads unto life eternal. "The sorrow 
of the world worketh death." (Cor. 9:10). 
Such was the sorrow of Esau (Heb. 12: 17) and 
of Judas who went out and hanged himself (Mat. 
27:5). That is the sorrow of remorse, the 
hopeless anguish and helpless self-accusation of 
the lost. That is not repentance unto life. 

True evangelical repentance is the real pre- 
requisite of saving faith, and in some senses 
the only vital condition of salvation. He who 
is not willing to obey God, is not able to trust 
Him for salvation. He who does not break 
away from sin, will not, cannot, believe to the 
saving of his soul. He who is not truly penitent 
cannot exercise living faith. Faith is a plant 



70 THE SINNEB AND HIS SAVIOUB. 

that grows only in a garden well watered with 
tears of repentance! It is the outgoing toward 
God, of the soul that aspires after holiness, and 
has turned its back upon sin. Indeed, in its 
simpler, ethical form, it underlies repentance. 
A man who does not believe that God is, and 
that He is a rewarder of them that diligently 
seek Him, will not exercise repentance toward 
God. 

Again, saving faith may be said to be in- 
separably linked with repentance. They are 
different aspects of the same great complex act 
of the soul. Repentance is turning away from 
sin, faith is turning toward God. The whole is 
a complex act of the soul which engages the 
intellectual, moral, and emotional faculties, and 
constitutes the greatest voluntary change possible 
within the range of the human will. But con- 
version, as to its human elements and responsi- 
bilities is not complete until this supreme moral 
act of the soul has taken place, and the act in- 
cludes both repentance toward God, and faith 
toward the Lord Jesus Christ. 

SAVING FAITH. 

What then is saving faith? We have come 



TEE CONDITIONS OF SALVATION (Continued) 71 

to one of the great questions of religion. All 
the way through, religion is a matter of faith. 
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Let anyone 
take up his Bible, especially the New Testament 
and notice how central and continuous and im- 
perative this demand for saving faith is. The 
word faith in its various meanings and appli- 
cations occurs two hundred and forty-five times 
in the Bible, but only twice in the Old Testa- 
ment, namely, in Deut. 32:20, and Hab. 2:4. 
Showing how distinctly it is a New Testament 
idea. Indeed, it is a keyword to Christianity. 
The words "believe" and " belief ' in their 
various forms, as nouns, verbs and participles 
occur four hundred and twelve times in the 
Bible, and unbelief in its various forms twenty- 
six times. Without faith it is impossible to 
please God, we are told in Heb. 11 :6. Salvation 
is everywhere made to hinge upon faith. It is 
therefore, of the utmost consequence, that we 
know as definitely as possible what is saving 
faith, although it must be admitted that a few 
if any who exercise faith, would be able to 
analize the mental process. 

Religious faith, the faith of the Gospel, is 
the farthest possible removed from superstition, 



72 TEE SINNEB AND HIS SAVIOUB. 

although it is quite common and popular with 
shallow thinkers to confound the two and use 
the two terms synonymously. The religion of 
Jesus is reasonable, even though it is super- 
natural. Superstition thinks of the act of faith ; 
faith thinks of its object. Superstition is born 
of fear; faith is born of love. Superstition is 
based on imagination; faith is based on reason. 
Says the venerable George Mattheson : 

Faith is not credulity. I have read of the men 
on Transfiguration Mount, that when they were awake, 
they saw His glory! Ah! there it is— when they were 
awake. He often gives his beloved sleep— often gives 
them hypnotic sleep — rest by the mere act of gazing! 
But in no hypnotic sleep does he exalt, would he ac- 
cept, an act of faith. It is from my waking soul, 
from my reasoning soul, from my prudent and poising 
and pondering soul that he values the expression of 
my faith.' 9 

And such waking faith is crowned with the 
vision of the Almighty. Human wisdom says: 
"Sedng is believing.' ' But Jesus said to 
Martha : l ' Said I not unto thee, If thou wouldest 
believe thou shouldest see the glory of God ? ' 9 
Thus faith leads to sight, and hope to fruition. 
Faith thus becomes the true organ of know- 
ledge, the highest method for the apprehension 
of truth. 



TEE CONDITIONS OF SALVATION (Continued) 73 

Turning now to the word of God, we find 
this definition of faith, in Heb. 11: 1. Now faith 
is the substance of things hoped for, the evi- 
dence of things not seen. The Revised Version 
reads: "Now faith is the assurance of things 
hoped for, the proving of things not seen." 
According to this, faith contains as its principal 
elements, conviction and assured confidence. It 
is a conviction of the reality of the thing hoped 
for or desired, a living confidence that that 
which is as yet unseen is nevertheless real 
and becomes a fact of experience. Thus faith 
in the divine word of promise is equivalent to 
a demonstration of its truth, so that the mind 
rests satisfied. Christ says: He that believeth 
on the Son hath everlating life. John 3 :36. 
This is repeated many times. The penitent soul 
rests upon this promise, and is satisfied. Now 
the Word says: He that believeth on the Son 
of God hath the witness in himself; he that be- 
lieveth not God, hath made him a liar; because 
he believed not the record God gave of his Son. 
And this is the record, that God hath given to 
us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He 
that hath the Son, hath life and he that hath 
not the Son of God, hath not life (1 Jno. 5:10- 



74 TEE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUE. 

12). So also Jno. 3:14-18 teaches the same 
truth. Faith accepts these statements, but- 
tressed as they are by the atonement in Jesus 
Christ and rests upon them, satisfied that they 
are true, and that therefore Jesus saves now. 
The act of faith is like the look of the serpent- 
bitten Israelites toward the brazen serpent on 
the pole. They might not be able to see, but 
they could look ! (Num. 21 :9 ; St. Jno. 3 :14-15). 
They might not understand, but if they looked 
they were to be healed. That was the promise 
and the experience proved it to be a fact. 

Going now a little further we notice: 

1. That saving faith is an act of the will — that 
voluntary act of the penitent soul by which we 
take possession of the blessing and benefits of 
the atonement through Jesus Christ. It is true, 
faith is the gift of God, that is, the power to 
believe is divinely wrought, but even then, a 
man is responsible for the exercise of that power 
and gift. We are divinely enabled to believe. 
Indeed, when the soul is penitently passive in 
the hands of God, the Spirit of the Lord works 
an inner conviction of the truth that Jesus 
saves, but that can only be done where the soul 



TEE CONDITIONS OF SALVATION (Continued) 75 

yields thoroughly to His will, and consents to 
trust Him implicitly. But such trust involves 
also an actual surrender of self and a pledge of 
obedience. The man who wills to repent is also 
ready and willing to believe. The man who is 
willing to trust God for salvation, is also willing 
to obey God, and faith is both. Thus faith is 
the voluntary act by which the soul accepts 
Christ as Savior, and chooses Him as Lord 

2. Saving faith is of the heart rather than 
of the head. Says a great teacher, "Although 
an act of reason, if reason be taken in the broad 
sense in which it is synonymous with the human 
intelligence, faith nevertheless springs out of 
feeling, and it withers away when the feelings 
in which it has its root disappear." It is the 
response of the soul to a divinely wrought con- 
viction. It is personal in its force, in its source 
and object, and takes little account of abstract 
truth as such. It is, therefore, not necessarily 
connected with any high grade of intellectual 
power. The ignorant and the weak are as 
capable of exercising saving faith as are the 
wise and strong. As the final and sole con- 
dition of salvation, this must be so, else it would 



76 THE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

not be true that all men, any men, can be saved 
through Jesus Christ. It does not take great 
intellect nor great intelligence to obtain sal- 
vation, but simple faith, not faith that is con- 
trary to reason, but, as the late Eev. S. Hoy 
used to say. "faith that is the highest exercise 
of reason," the sanest evidence of sound reason, 
and sincerity of purpose. 

The exercise of faith is the apprehension of 
the supernatural. Religious faith always moves 
in that high realm. It is not contrary to nature, 
but superior to it. By it alone can men be 
saved. Says Rev. Dr. Humason, "This world 
can never reach a condition of peace except 
through a sensible belief in the supernatural. 
Men have tried time and again under various 
styles of nomenclature to find a rest for the 
soul, but always met with final failure until 
they rested on the Rock of Ages." 

Only here is safety, stability. Only here 
does the soul find its supreme kinship — in the 
Fatherhood of God, and the Brotherhood of 
Jesus Christ, who is the Sovereign and the sub- 
stance of the supernatural. Explain it as we will, 
human experience, as manifested in testimony, 



TEE CONDITIONS OF SALVATION (Continued) 77 

proves the truth that, being justified by faith, 
we have peace with God, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ. As J. G. Holland beautifully 
says: " Faith draws the poison from every 
grief, takes the sting from every loss, and 
quenches the fire of every pain, and only faith 
can do it." 

PERSONAL CONSECRATION. 

3. It is an act of personal consecration and 
devotion. The ultimate object of faith is not 
a thing, or even an abstract truth, but a person, 
and evangelical, saving faith is trust in the 
Person of the Redeemer, who is presented as 
the only and sufficient Savior. It is an act of 
the soul that places us in vital connection with 
Jesus the Source of saving virtue and power. 
It puts us in accord with Him, who alone can 
save. It is, therefore, personal confidence. 
This is philosophical and reasonable. What 
causes men to trust in financial institutions 
and enterprises? It is not only the money in 
the bank, but the man or men back of it. For 
no matter how much money there may be in 
a bank, it is a very uncertain thing if there 
are not honest and capable men behind it. A 



78 TEE SIN NEE AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

dishonest cashier or president can soon take the 
money. But we trust the probity, the honor 
and the ability of the men who conduct the 
affairs of the institution. So here, we trust in 
the promises of God, because God is behind 
them, and because in Jesus Christ they are yea 
and amen (2 Cor. 1 : 20). We trust in the merit 
of the atonement, because it is derived from the 
sinless personal perfection and absolute ade- 
quacy of the Atoner, Jesus Christ, and because 
we know that He not only was delivered for 
our offences, but rose again for our justification, 
and ever liveth to make intercession for us. 
It is the greatness of the High Priest and the 
preciousness of His sacrifice that inpires our 
confidence. Here is safe ground to rest upon. 
A person who loves us enough to die for us, 
can be trusted, relied upon. And so saving 
faith is a declaration of personal trust, and a 
pledge of personal loyalty. 

It will thus be seen that saving faith is 
something very much more vital than so-called 
"historical faith", or theoretical belief. A 
man may believe the sacred record, even con- 
cerning Jesus Christ, that He died to save all 
men, yet not believe to the saving of his soul. 



TEE CONDITIONS OF SALVATION (Continued) 79 

He may believe all the doctrines of the Bible, 
the Creed of the Church, yet not be saved, or 
a whit changed in his moral status. Nor is it 
the entertaining of certain opinions or notions 
concerning religion, however sincerely or intelli- 
gently held. The word of God gives no ground 
to say that we are saved by our opinions, or by 
our sincerity. There is only one Savior, and 
that is Jesus Christ, the Crucified. There is 
only one way of salvation, and that is repent- 
ance toward God, and faith toward our Lord 
Jesus Christ. We find no substitute for this. 
No church, nor creed, nor sacrament, nor ser- 
vice, nor merit, nor opinion, however sincerely 
we may entertain them or exercise ourselves in 
them, can save us. Jesus Christ is our only 
Savior; faith is the only thing that brings His 
saving power into the soul. 

Nor is this an unjust or arbitrary or 
haphazard arrangement, but it is perfectly 
reasonable and philosophically adequate. 

1. In its inception, saving faith grows out 
of that sense of utter helplessness which comes 
with deep consciousness of sinfulness. The 
sinner sees his helplessness, and feels the hope 



80 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

lessness of his condition, as regards his own 
ability. There is only one refuge, one hope set 
before him, and that is in Jesus. He cannot 
work out his pardon, nor merit salvation. He 
can do only one thing, he can trust. He can 
recognize his helplessness, and confess his de- 
pendence, and he can trust Him upon whom 
alone he is dependent. It is the only thing he 
can do, but that he can do. Thus the propo- 
sition to save him that believeth meets the man 
at the point of his moral helplessness, and 
makes his deliverance hinge upon the one thing 
he is capable of doing. Thus his faith crowns 
his Savior as Lord of all. Therefore the summons, 
"Only believe." Thus said Paul to the Philip- 
pian jailor: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31). 

2. The exercise of faith in the all sufficiency 
of Christ alone for salvation, involves an ac- 
knowledgement of the futility of our own right- 
eousness. We abandon all hope and effort to 
establish our own righteousness. By the deeds 
of the law shall no man be justified (Rom. 
3:20). But Christ is the end of the law for 
righteousness to every one that believeth (Rom. 
10:3). The righteousness which we need and 



TEE CONDITIONS OF SALVATION (Continued) 81 

receive, is by faith. With the heart man be- 
lieveth unto righteousness (Rom. 10:10). For 
he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew 
no sin; that we might be made the righteous- 
ness of God in him (2 Cor. 5:21). By faith 
the righteousness of Christ is imparted to us, 
as well as imputed. Just as in the case of Abra- 
ham, our faith is counted unto us for, or as 
an equivalent of, righteousness (Gal. 3:6). By 
faith therefore, we say with St. Paul: "I am 
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet 
not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life 
which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith 
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave him- 
self for me" (Gal. 2:20). In the words of 
A. C. Dixon, D. D. : "The waters of God's 
blessings flow downward, and he who would 
drink them must stoop. Our faith can never 
approach God in robes of royalty; sackcloth 
and ashes are always its poper clothing.' ' 

The place for true faith is on its knees be- 
fore a holy God, weeping tears of penitence 
for its sins, and rejoicing only in His right- 
eousness. 

3. Faith is the yielding and committal of 
the whole being to Christ. It is the hand that 



82 THE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUE. 

opens the door into the kingdom where Christ 
is King, and he who enters that kingdom as 
a citizen or subject does so by swearing un- 
qualified allegiance to the new King at the 
threshold of entrance. That pledge is taken in 
the act of faith, for faith is not only trust in 
the Savior 's power and willingness to save, but 
an acknowledgement and acceptance of his 
kingship over the soul and a pledge of obe- 
dience to His will. As we have seen, faith is 
,an act of the will, and therefore absolutely in- 
compatible with rebellion against God. Thus 
the relation of perfect and loving union be- 
tween Christ and the soul is established, in 
which we are to continue the rest of our days. 
For the initial act of faith, becomes the life 
of faith in vital union with Christ. 



THE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION. 83 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION. 

Thus far we have shown what provision 
God has made for our salvation, what we must 
do to be saved, and how Divine grace assists 
us in doing that which is required of us. That 
brings us to the end of what we can do. What 
now occurs? What is God's response to this 
appeal of faith from a truly penitent heart? 
The Scriptures plainly teach that the result 
is the experience of salvation, personal, imme- 
diate, conscious. The Gospel is the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth 
(Rom. 1:16). It is, therefore, our next duty 
to state what is embraced in this experience 
which comes into our consciousness at the point 
of saving faith, through the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

CONVERSION. 

Let it be noted that while several very im- 
portant elements enter into this experience, it 
is, in reality, but one experience which, to use 
a comprehensive term, we properly call con- 



84 TEE SINNEB AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

version. This term, however, includes both the 
human and divine elements. It describes the 
process and experience by which a sinner be- 
comes a Christian. The human element in this 
process has been stated in the preceding chap- 
ter. The Divine, we take up in this. And in 
order to do this intelligently, we are obliged 
to take up the various phases separately, in 
the order of thought, always remembering that 
they occur, so far as our consciousness of the 
fact can distinguish, at one and the same time, 
and constitute one experience, the experience 
of conversion or salvation from sin. 

JUSTIFICATION. 

First in the order of thought is pardon or 
justification. 

1. This is the judicial act of God the Father 
by which the penitent sinner who believes on 
Jesus Christ is freely forgiven, his punishment 
remitted, and his guilt removed, for the sake 
of Jesus Christ, whose atoning merit is a satis- 
faction to the justice of God, in our behalf. 

(2) The act of God by which we are made 
righteous through faith in Christ. 



TEE EXPEEIENCE OF SALVATION. 85 

By the atonement provision has been made 
for the payment of our debt, incurred by sin. 
In response to faith the debt of the individual 
sinner is cancelled, and he is treated as though 
he had not sinned. The righteousness of 
Christ is not only imputed, however, but im- 
parted, or transferred to him that believeth. 
Two things are to be noted. First, the blame- 
worthiness or guilt incurred by transgression, 
is removed. The sentence of the law has been 
satisfied in Christ. Christ is the end of the 
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth 
(Rom. 10:4). Christ hath redeemed us from 
the curse of the law, being made a curse for 
us (Gal. 3:13). By the righteousness of one 
the free gift came upon all men unto justifi- 
cation of life (Rom. 5:18). 

REMOVAL OF THE SENSE OF GUILT. 

Second, the sense of guilt, or the experience 
of condemnation which the impenitent sinner al- 
ways carries, and which becomes so acute in 
conviction, is removed. There is therefore, 
now, no condemnation to them which are in 
Christ Jesus (Rom. 8-1). He that believeth 



86 THE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

on Him (the Son of God) is not condemned 
(St. Jno. 3:18). Therefore being justified by 
faith, we have peace with God through our 
Lord Jesus Christ — and rejoice in hope of the 
glory of God. (Eom. 5:1, 2). The Psalmist 
therefore well says, Blessed is he whose trans- 
gression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed 
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not 
iniquity (Psa. 32: 1, 2). This indeed is a won- 
derful blessing, and the consciousness of it, 
which is so plainly taught in the above pass- 
ages, is precious beyond measure. To feel the 
burden slip from the soul, that has for so long 
been like a galling yoke, and to realize * that, 
having come into living union with Christ, we 
have been made free from the yoke of bondage, 
free from the guilt of sin, free from the con- 
demnatory sentence of the law, this is an in- 
estimable blessing — a joy unspeakable and full 
of glory. How pure the joy of the hope which 
it inspires ! How sweet and abiding the peace 
which thus comes flowing into the soul. Peace 
like a river, and righteouness like the waves 
of the sea! 

The promises of God are abundant and 



TEE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION. 87 

sweeping. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and 
the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him 
return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy 
upon him, and to our God for he will abund- 
antly pardon (Isa. 55:7). I will put my law 
into their inward parts, and write it in their 
hearts — for I will forgive their iniquity, and 
I will remember their sins no more (Jer. 31: 
33, 35). And I w T ill cleanse them from their 
iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; 
and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby 
they have sinned (Jer. 33:8). In those days, 
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be 
sought for, and there shall be none; and the 
sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; 
for I will pardon them (Jer. 50:20). Who is 
a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity? 
(Mic. 7:1). Through his name whosoever be- 
lieveth in Him shall have remission of sins 
(Acts 10:43). Though your sins be as scarlet, 
they shall be as white as snow; though they be 
as crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:18). 
Bless the Lord, my soul, who forgiveth all 
thine iniquities (Psa. 103:1-3). As far as the 
east is from the west, so far hath he removed 
our transgressions from us (Psa. 103.12). For 



88 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back 
(Psa. 38:17). I, even I, am he that blotteth 
out thy transgressions, for my own sake, and 
will not remember thy sins (Psa. 43:25). 
Having forgiven you all tresspasses; blotting 
out the hand-writing of ordinances which was 
against us, and took it out of the way, nailing 
it to his cross' ' (Col. 2:13-14). 

Thus we might go on, citing promises that 
express not only the fact of forgiveness, actual 
forgiveness, but the scope of Divine pardon 
extending to the utmost limit of human guilt. 
"All sin," "blot out," "cast them behind thy 
back," "as far the east is from the west," — 
does anybody know how far that is? No! But 
we know it is far enough! Blotted out? Then 
they are invisible! The record can never be 
restored. It has been erased. The blood covers 
it. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, 
cleanseth us from all sin. 

This forgiveness is eternal. The decree is 
irrevocable, so far as the sins of the past are 
concerned. It is very, very real. It is not only 
a forgiveness in the mind of God, and in the 
archives of His government, but in the con- 



TEE EXPEBIENCE OF SALVATION. 89 

sciousness and heart of the pardoned sinner. 
From the Holy of Holies, where Christ sitteth, 
down into the holy of holies of our being this 
great miracle of grace goes forth. The problem 
is solved, the deed is done. God is just, yet 
the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. 

x Commenting on the words in Isa. 1 :18 : 
"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be 
as white as snow; Though they be red like 
crimon, they shall be as wool/' Charles H. 
Spurgeon says: "I have heard of a certain 
divine that he used always to carry with him 
a little book. This tiny volume had only three 
leaves in it; and, truth to tell, it contained not 
a single word. The first was a leaf of black 
paper, black as jet; the next was a leaf of red 
— scarlet; and the last was a leaf of white, 
without spot. Day by day, he would look upon 
this singular book, and at last he told the secret 
of what it meant. He said : ' l Here is the black 
leaf, that is my sin, and the wrath of God, 
which my sin deserves; I look and look, and 
think it is not half black enough to represent 
my guilt, though it is as black as black can be. 
The red leaf reminds me of the atoning sacri- 



90 THE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

fice and the precious blood; and I delight to 
look at it, and weep, and look at it again. The 
white leaf represents my soul as it is washed 
in Jesus' blood and made white as snow." 

Justification includes the vital fact of for- 
giveness. As a forensic or law term it simply 
stands for a judicial act declaring a person 
right with the law. But that is not enough. 
To declare a man righteous when he is not, 
would be a fraud. A sinner must be made 
righteous. Therefore the necessity of forgive- 
ness. To justify the sinner, then, includes all 
this. On the ground of the atonement, 
through the blood of Christ, by faith in his 
name, we are absolved, discharged and relieved 
from deserved wrath and punishment, and ad- 
mitted into the privileges and rewards of the 
righteous, for the sake of Jesus pur substitute. 

This blessing can be bestowed only upon 
sinners. Therefore Jesus said, They that be whole 
need not a physician, but they that are sick. 
I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners 
to repentance. (Matt. 9:12, 13). This is a 
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, 
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save 
sinners, of whom I am chief (1 Tim. 1:15). 



TEE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION. 91 

It is a work done for us; instantaneously 
the whole work is done; it is all of grace, solely 
upon the ground of atonement, and only by 
faith. 

Another definition: It is the reversal of 
God's attitude toward the sinner, because of 
the changed attitude of the sinner toward God. 
Its elements are, (1) remission of punishment, 
(2) restoration to favor. Both on the ground 
of the meritorious righteousness of Christ. 

This act of justification is not an arbitrary 
act going out from the sovereign authority of 
God, alone, but performed in perfect harmony 
with the plan of God. By that plan our sins 
and guilt were laid on Jesus Christ, who volun- 
tarily bore our sins in his own body on the 
tree and therefore, by faith in Him, His right- 
eousness is reckoned in our favor. Not by 
works, lest anyone should boast, but by a peni- 
tent renunciation on our part of all claim to 
salvation to ourselves, or anyone else but 
Christ. In abundant mercy, Christ, who made 
provision for this very thing, remits our debt, 
thus bringing peace. The sacrifice of Christ 
is the satisfaction of justice for human sin. 



92 THE SINNEB AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

That satisfaction, and that alone is the ground 
of forgiveness. 

REGENERATION. 

But all this would not suffice for our sal- 
vation, having reference only to the sins that 
are past. It leaves the heart with its evil 
tendency, its "bent to sinning." What relief 
therefore would it be to have all my past sins 
blotted out, giving me a clear balance sheet 
with which to begin anew? For I should na- 
turally go on in the same old way, hating God, 
rejecting Christ, refusing obedience, beginning 
a new catalogue of transgressions. Something 
must be done within us. My evil heart, deceit- 
ful above all things, and desperately wicked 
must be changed, renewed, before I can begin 
the life of the Spirit. Hence the necessity of 
regeneration, or the new birth. With wonder- 
fully solemn emphasis our Savior said to Nico- 
demus: "Ye must be born again' ' (St. John 
3:7). The emphasis is laid upon the verb 
"must" — an imperative, eternal, unalterable 
must. But it is not an arbitrary must. It is 
not that God has simply chosen to set down this 
rule, but the reason for it lies deeply imbedded 



TEE EXPEBIENCE OF SALVATION. 93 

in the nature of things. The Savior's own 
statement is, "Except a man be born again, he 
cannot see the Kingdom of God" (St. John 3 :3). 
And the reason? "That which is born of the 
flesh, is flesh, and that which is born of the 
Spirit is Spirit" (St. John 3:6). That is 
the philosophy of the situation. The apostle 
declares, the natural man receiveth not the 
things of the Spirit of God, for they must 
be spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14). 
One must have eyes adapted to spiritual 
light. One must have a nature adapted to 
the environment in which he is placed. 

If we want to live in the spirit, we 
must be born of the Spirit. If we want to 
live in the heavenlies, we must be born from 
above. There is only one gate-way into the 
kingdom of God, and that is the new birth. We 
must be born into it. There is no need to ob- 
ject; it will do no good to seek to evade it. 
There is heaven! All its twelve gates are open 
wide! Go in! Go into its superb company of 
angels and spirits of just men made perfect; 
go into the presence of the Lord of Hosts; 
enter into the joy of the Lord! Ah! It cannot 



94 THE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

be done, except by being born from above. 

Otherwise we could not live in that atmosphere. 

Like a fish out of water, we should surely die. 

Our Savior teaches the same lesson when 

He says: Ye shall know them by their fruits. 
Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from 
thistles? (St. Matt. 7: 16). Make the tree good. 
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, 
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good 
fruit (St. Matt. 7:18). The fountain must be 
sweet if it is to pour forth sweet water. It 
is simply an application of the law of cause and 
effect. The effect will proclaim its cause. 

This necessity of a new birth applies equally 
to all men, for all have gone astray, all have 
come short of the glory of God, all have come 
very far short of original righteousness. There 
is no difference between the moralist, and the 
reckless sinner, between the respectable, self- 
righteous Pharisee, and the openly dissipated 
publican. Both alike need the new birth. No 
matter what degree of culture we may have, 
whether we be savage or highly civilized, we 
must be born again. The new birth is a change 
of heart. Out of it are the issues of life. As 



THE EXPEBIENCE OF SALVATION. 95 

a, man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The heart, 
(of the unregenerate) is deceitful above all 
things and desperately wicked ; who can know 
it? The refined and moral may be harder to 
convince of their innate wickedness than the 
debauchee, but this does not alter the truth. 

Sin, when it is traced to its root principle, 
is found to be selfishness. The man who lives 
for pleasure, who indulges his appetite and 
passions, does so for the purpose of self- grati- 
fication. He who on the other hand leads an 
outwardly moral life, but refuses to yield his 
will and heart and life to God, is as surely 
ruled by the motive of selfishness. Ambition, 
avarice, pride of station, as well as lust and 
passion, are manifestations of that central 
principle of depravity, selfishness. The unre- 
generate life is self centered, self absorbed. It 
views everything from the standpoint of self- 
interest. The man is an egotist, consciously or 
unconsciously. He treats himself as the center 
of the universe. All things exist for his bene- 
fit, all must contribute to his welfare. He 
yields to nothing and to no one, save in the 
spirit of selfishness, and with the hope of self- 
aggrandizement. To gratify selfish desire, or 



96 TEE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUE. 

accomplish selfish purpose, he will grovel in 
the mire, dig in the earth, abandon principle, 
violate law, human and Divine, trample heed- 
lessly upon the rights of others, ride ruthlessly 
over the interests of his fellows, crushing their 
hearts, ruining their lives. He must have his 
way. Everything must bend to his pleasure. 
He is an individual octopus, with a thousand 
serpentine coils reaching out in all directions, 
and laying everything under tribute. No won- 
der the Savior says: "Marvel not that I say un- 
to you 'Ye must be born again.' " (St. Jno. 
3:7). 

LOVE THE ANTIDOTE FOR SIN. 

The only cure for selfishness, is its opposite, 
love, which is but a positive conception of un- 
selfishness. The love of God must therefore 
be shed abroad in the heart. The law demands 
that thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself (St. 
Matt. 22.37-39). No man can do that out of 
the impulses or powers of his unregenerated 
heart. Love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom. 
13:10). Love your enemies. This is the 
higher requirements of the New Testament. 



TEE EXPEBIENCE OF SALVATION. 97 

But every man who knows his own heart 
instantly responds: "I cannot. And what is 
worse, I do not care to do so, I have no dis- 
position to love God or my neighbor. I love 
myself. I look out for number one." Does 
God then require an impossibility? Verily not! 
But when God commands, He also enables. 
Therefore God says: I will put my laws into 
their minds, and write them in their hearts; 
and I will be their God, and they shall be to 
me a people {Heb. 8:10) (Jer. 31:33) (Cor. 
3:3). God must and will establish His law of 
love in the heart of the believer, and He sets 
up within us His reign of righteousness and 
peace. Only so can we love God and keep His 
law. Therefore the necessity of the new birth. 
There is no use to exhort a man to be- 
gin to love God, or to learn to love Him. 
He cannot do it. A man must be born from 
above. The love of God, which is the central 
principle of the spiritual life in Jesus, must 
be implanted in the soul. This love is the anti- 
dote for sin which is selfishness, and surely sup- 
plants it. THIS IS THE DYNAMIC OF RELIGION. 
THIS IS THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL. THE POWER 

of love. For love is of God, and God is love, 



98 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

and a man must dwell in God, and God, whose 
love is the central source of all energy, must 
dwell in him. Then he is a Christian, and can 
live a Christian life. 

THE WORK OP THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

But we have no special responsibility in this 
matter, except to yield ourselves utterly to God, 
and submit to the operations of His grace and 
Spirit. The penitent soul that comes believing 
in Jesus, * trusts utterly in Him, in this also, 
and is passive in His hand, — as the clay in the 
potter's hand. The work of regeneration is 
purely the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a 
supernatural work, a miracle of grace. The 
Spirit of God, as the executive of the God-head 
is in the world verifying the declaration of 
the Scripture, "Behold I make all things new." 
He begins that renewing process, by renewing 
the hearts of men who believe in Jesus. Not by 
works of righteousness which we have done, 
but by the washing of regeneration, and the 
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he hath 
shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ 
our Savior (Tit. 3:5, 6). Everywhere the 
Holy Spirit is described as the energy by which 



TEE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION. 99 

we are born again, through the incorruptible 
seed of the Word of God, which liveth and 
abideth forever (1 Pet. 1:23). The teaching 
of Scripture plainly is that the new birth is 
solely the work of the Holy Spirit wrought in 
him that believes in Jesus Christ to the saving 
of the soul. 

Now what takes place when one is born 
again? The definitions have been so various, 
and the subject is so broadly treated in the 
Word of God, and under so many different 
figures, that it is not easy to give a brief, yet 
adequate statement. 

1. Eegeneration means "to be born again." 
It is that moral restoration by which a person be- 
comes a child of God, a renewal of our fallen 
nature, whereby we are delivered from the 
power of sin, so that we are empowered to love 
God, and serve Him with affection. It is the 
impartation of the perfect principle of spirit- 
ual life in Christ Jesus, by which we are saved 
from the reigning power of sin. It is the in- 
ception of a new life, by Divine communication, 
a re-creation in the image of God. As the de- 
pravity which infects our whole nature is trans- 

LOFC. 



100 THE 8INNEE AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

mitted by natural generation, so through re- 
generation we are transformed into a moral 
likeness of God by the Holy Spirit. All life 
is the result of generation. All spiritual life is 
the result of the new birth. 

Doctor Watson defined it as "that mighty 
change wrought in man by the Holy Spirit by 
which the dominion which sin has over him in 
his natural state, is broken and abolished; so 
that with full choice of will and the energy of 
right affection he serves God freely." 

The Scriptures are most explicit and simple. 
In Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth 
anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new crea- 
ture (Gal. 6: 15). Therefore, if any man be in 
Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things 
have passed away, behold all things are become 
new. (2 Cor. 5:17). For the law of the Spirit 
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from 
the law of sin and death. (Eom. 8 :2). That ye 
put off the old man, which is corrupt according 
to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the 
spirit of your minds; and that ye put on the 
new man, which after God is created in right- 
eousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:22-24). I 



TEE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION. 101 

will put a new spirit within you, and I will 
take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will 
give them a heart of flesh (Ezek. 11:19). 

Scripture phrases are most emphatic. "Born 
again." (St. John 3:3-7) (1 Pet. 1:23). "Born 
of water and the Spirit, " (St. Jno. 3:5). 
"Born of God." (1 Jno. 5:1; St. Jno. 1:13; 
1 Jno. 3:9). "Passed from death unto life." 
(1 Jno. 3:14; St. Jno. 5:24). "The washing 
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy 
Spirit." (Tit 3.5). "Quickened." (Eph. 2:1; 
Col. 2:13). "Dead with Christ." (Col. 2:20). 
"Risen with Christ." (Col. 3:1). "Power to 
become the Sons of God." (St. Jno. 1:12). 
"Born after the Spirit." (St. Jno. 3:8). 

2. The Scriptures teach that in regeneration 
we are passive, although we have been brought 
to this point by our active co-operation with 
God in repentance and faith. The Holy Spirit 
alone has power to create anew in Christ Jesus. 
It is not by development, or evolution, or re- 
formation, but by the power of the Holy Ghost, 
coming into the soul through the medium of 
faith. 

3. It is an instantaneous work. A gradual 



102 THE SINNEB AND HIS SAVIOUB. 

new birth is an absurdity. In the nature of 
things such a change is wought in an instant, 
although the consciousness of it may come gra- 
dually. On the day of Pentecost three thousand 
persons were converted in a very short time. 
Saul of Tarsus was instantly changed from a 
zealous persecutor, to an humble, obedient dis- 
ciple. 

4. The change thus wrought is three fold. 

First it is a change of mind, or under- 
standing. In regeneration the mental view- 
point is changed. The converted soul reads all 
things earthly and spiritual in a new light. He 
has the gift of spiritual discernment. He be- 
comes capable of receiving the truth of God, 
"the truth as it is in Jesus. " The Word of 
God becomes a new book. Truth has a new 
meaning, the soul a new outlook. It is like 
going with Moses to Mount Pisgah, and gain- 
ing a clear view of the land of promise, our 
privileges in Christ Jesus. (1 Cor. 2:9-14). 

Second, it is a change of purpose, or will. 
By it the will is emancipated from the bondage 
of sin, and empowered to choose obedience to 
the law of God, in love. In regeneration the 
Spirit of God worketh in us both to will and 



THE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION. 103 

to do of his good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). The 
unregenerate inclines to that which is evil, and 
either chooses that which is wrong, or finds it- 
self unable to carry out the better impulses and 
convictions which are felt. (Rom. 7:18). But 
the regenerate soul chooses God and prefers His 
service. 

Third, it is a change in the affections. The 
carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not 
subject to the law of God, nor indeed, can be. 
(Rom. 8:7). They that are in the flesh can- 
not please God (Rom. 8:8). But the regene- 
rated soul, being born of the Spirit and having 
the life of Christ implanted within, is enabled 
truly to love God. There is a complete revo- 
lution in this respect. Then we loved sin and 
hated God, now we love God and hate sin. The 
whole tendency of the life is reversed. The 
current of the affections runs in a new and godly 
channel. We love God, we love His law, His 
people, His cause, His ways, His word. In- 
deed, the life of the truly regenerate is a life 
of love, not a perfect love, but a growing love, 
a love that grows in purity, in fervor, in 
strength, in scope. It is a life in the Spirit, 
and not in the flesh. The springs of such a life 



104 THE SIN NEB AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

are in God. The Spirit has come to abide with- 
in, and it becomes in us a well of water spring- 
ing up into everlasting life (St. Jno. 4:14; 7: 
37, 38). 

REGENERATION AND JUSTIFICATION. 

5. There is a very close relation between re- 
generation and justification, yet also a sharp 
contrast. Justification is a work done for us, 
regeneration a work done within us. The first 
changes our relation to God and our standing 
before Him, the latter our moral and spiritual 
condition. In justification we are pardoned, in 
regeneration renewed. We are never justified 
without at the same time being regenerated al- 
so. Nor are we ever regenerated without also 
being justified. Each is distinct and perfect 
in itself, after its kind, yet the two together 
constitute the essential experience of a change 
of heart. Both occur simultaneously, both 
through faith in Jesus Christ. 

ADOPTION AND ASSURANCE. 

Having been thus restored to Divine iavor 
by the pardon of our sins, and to His image 
by the new birth, we are properly received in- 
to the family of God, and admitted into all the 



THE EXPEBIENCE OF SALVATION. J05 

privileges and rights of children. This is called 
adoption. We are born of God, and then in- 
stalled into the heavenly family. "Behold, what 
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon 
ns, that we should be called the sons of God! 
Therefore the world knoweth us not, because 
it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons 
of God; and it doth not yet appear what we 
shall be; but we know that when he shall ap- 
pear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see Him 
as He is (1 Jno. 3: 1, 2). But as many as 
received Him, to them gave He power (or the 
right) to become the sons of God (1 Jno. 1.12). 
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, 
they are the sons of God. For ye have not re- 
ceived the spirit of bondage again to fear; but 
ye have received the spirit of adoption (or of 
sonship), whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The 
Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit 
that we are the children of God; and if chil- 
dren, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs 
with Jesus Christ; if so be that we suffer with 
him, that we may be also glorified together. 
(Rom. 8:14-17). God sent forth his son — 
that we might receive the adoption of sons. And 
because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the 



106 ^JliS: SINNER AND HIS SAV10VB. 

spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba> 
Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant 
(slave) but a son; and if a son, then an heir 
of God through Christ' ' (Gal. 4:4-7).— In the 
following portion of the fourth chapter of Gala- 
tians the Apostle Paul shows, by a beautiful 
interpretation of an allegory, drawn from real 
history, that we are free born, the children of 
promise, and exhorts us (Chap. 5:1) "to stand 
fast in the liberty w T herewith Christ hath made 
us free." "For if the son therefore shall make 
you free, ye shall be free indeed' ' (St. Jno. 
8:36). 

These passages indicate both the fact of 
adoption and the concomitant blessings. L 
Access to God in prayer. Beloved, if our heart 
condemn us not, then have we confidence toward 
God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of 
him (1 Jno. 3:21). 2. Access also to the grace 
wherein we stand (Rom. 5:2). 3. Inheritance 
(Eom. 8:14-17). 4. Hope of glory. We re* 
joice in hope of the glory of God — "and 
hope maketh not ashamed, because the love 
of God is shed abroad in our Tiearts, by 
the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us (Rom. 



TEE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION. 107 

5:2-5). Which hope we have as an anchor to 
the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which 
entereth into that within the veil" (Heb. 
6:19). 5. The indwelling of the Spirit of God 
(Rom. 8. 9, 11). He guides into all truth; He 
teaches us all things; He maketh intercession 
for us according to the will of God. 6. All the 
inestimable blessings of Gospel grace in growing 
abundance, and inexhaustible fullness, even un- 
to perfect love, and complete victory over all 
sin. 

All this is sealed to us in our perfect con- 
sciousness, unto perfect assurance. There is no 
need of our being in permanent doubt as to 
our conversion. We become self-conscious as 
Christians, just as clearly as we are self- 
conscious as individuals. The Word of God as- 
sures us of this, and gives us in unmistakable 
language the criteria by which we may know. 

1. By our faith itself. Faith is the sub- 
stance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things not seen (Heb. 11:1). Faith is the evi- 
dence. He that believeth on the Son of God 
hath the witness in himself (1. Jno. 5:10). 

2. By the testimony of the Holy Spirit. 



108 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

"The Spirit himself beareth witness with our 
Spirit, that we are the children of God (Rom. 
8:16). Who hath also sealed us, and given the 
earnest of the Spirit in our heart 2. Cor. 1:22). 
In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were 
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which 
is the earnest of our inheritance, until the re- 
demption of the purchased possession, unto the 
praise of his glory (Eph. 1:13, 14) (So also 
2. Cor. 5:5). And it is the Spirit that beareth 
witness, because the Spirit is truth" (1 Jno. 
5:6). Compare also, Rom. 8:15, and Gal. 4:6, 
already quoted above. 

3. By the fact that we love God and His 
people. "We know that we have passed from 
death unto life, because we love the brethren 
(1 Jno. 3:14). And hereby (viz. by loving in 
deed and in truth) we know that we are in the 
truth, and shall assure our hearts before him 
(1 Jno. 5.19). Every one that loveth is born 
of God" (1 Jno. 4:7). 

4. By the life which we live. "We know that 
whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he 
that is begotton of God, keepeth himself, and 
that wicked one toucheth him not (1 Jno. 5:18) 



TEE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION. 109 

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, 
for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot 
sin because he is born of God (1 Jno. 3:9). 
And hereby we do know that we know him, if 
we keep his commandments. And the work of 
righteousness shall be peace ; and the effect of 
righteousness, quietness and assurance forever 
(Isa. 32:17). That their heart may be com- 
forted, being knit together in love, and unto 
all riches of the full assurance of understanding 
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, 
and of the Father, and of Christ" (Col. 2:3). 
Thus the Word of God gives us many ways 
by which we may know our standing before 
God. The Lord does not want us to be in 
doubt. Uncertainty as to our experience cuts 
the nerve of our enthusiasm for service, and 
destroys the incentive to faithfulness. Cer- 
tainty makes us strong and bold and confident. 
Therefore let us not be content until we have 
this testimony, this evidence of the faith that 
overcomes the world. 

SANCTIFICATION. 

This is the scope of the experience by which 
we become the children of God. It is the pro- 



HO TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

foundest, most radical experience which is 
possible to us. It is the beginning of a re- 
newed soul, a new life, the foundation of a 
new destiny. It is glorious to become a Christ- 
ian. It is a great thing to become a child of 
God. 

In this experience, as outlined in this 
chapter, the life of holiness is begun, and the 
experience of holiness is inaugurated. The child 
of God is holy. Holiness is begun. And the 
work of Conversion, so wrought, is perfect. It 
does all that God intended it should do. It 
is not Christian perfection, but it is the perfect 
beginning of that which is to be made per- 
fect, in the experience of entire sanctification. 
The child is perfect — as a child, but not as a 
man. There is before the new-born child of 
God the possibility, even the necessity of per- 
fect cleansing from all sin, of perfect love, of 
perfect maturity of character — a state of graec, 
where faith is without any mixture of doubt, 
whose love is without alloy, and whose hope is 
undimmed by earthliness. 

Entire sanctification is a process which re- 
sults in a state of holiness, in which we are de- 
livered from all sinful affections and desires, 



THE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION. m 

and are kept in the love of God, having com- 
plete victory over all sin within and without, 
from day to day. This is a state of grace 
which we attain after conversion, but in this 
life, and which we may attain long before we 
die. Its attainment and our continuance there- 
in constitute a large factor in our Christian 
experience and in the exercise of the Christ- 
ian life. 

Every truly converted soul longs to be per- 
fectly holy. All life tends toward maturity. 
All growth is a promise and prophecy of per- 
fection. "Everyone that hath this hope in 
him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 
Jno. 3:3). God dwells in us, and God is holy. 
Inevitably, therefore, we want to be like God, 
whom we love, holy. 

All the exhortations of Christ and His 
apostles to seek perfection in holiness are 
addressed to the children of God. "Be perfect" 
said Jesus in Matt. 5 :48. Paul prayed that the 
God of peace might ' ' sanctify you wholly, and 
your whole spirit and soul and body, may be 
preserved blameless unto the coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thess. 5:23). This in- 



112 THE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUB. 

dicates that the children of God are not per- 
fect, but that they are to go on unto perfection, 
(Heb. 6:1) perfection of experience, perfec- 
tion of love, perfection of purity. They are 
later to "follow peace with all men, and holi- 
ness, without which no man shall see the Lord. ' ' 
(Heb. 12:14). "Having therefore these pro- 
mises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all 
defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting 
holiness in the fear of God." (2 Cor. 7:1). 
"Till we all attain unto the unity of the faith 
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto 
a full-grown man, unto the measure of the 
stature of the fulness of Christ, that we may 
be no longer children, tossed to and fro and 
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by 
the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles 
of error, but speaking the truth in love, may 
grow up in all things unto him which is the 
head, even Christ." (Eph. 4:13-15 et seq.) 
"Christ also loved the Church, and gave him- 
self for it, that he might sanctify it, having 
cleansed it by the washing of water with the 
word, that he might present the church unto 
himself a glorious church, not having spot or 
wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should 



TEE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION. H3 

be holy and without blemish." (Eph. 5:25-27). 
"If we walk in the light as he is in the light 
we have fellowship one with another and the 
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from 
all sin." (1 Jno. 1:7). All these passages in- 
dicate that the Christian life tends to perfect 
holiness, that holiness is essential to a perfect 
Christian character, and that character tends 
to permanence. Holiness fits us for fellowship 
with God, and for obedience and service. It 
prepares for Heaven, which is a holy place for a 
holy people. 

The sooner this state of grace is attained, 
the greater our security, — the surer our hold 
on heaven, the larger and deeper our joy in 
Jesus, and the fuller and clearer our know- 
ledge of divine things, and the more complete 
our victory over sin. The holy soul has the 
abundant life. The holy soul is fitted for the 
fulness of Pentecostal blessing, the highest 
equipment both for enjoyment and service. 
The holy soul has easier victory over tempta- 
tion, readier access to God in prayer, greater 
liberty in the Spirit. 

This glorious state also constitutes the con- 
dition of true growth and progress in the di- 
vine life. 



114 TEE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 

Such is the process by which the soul passes 
from death unto life, from the power of sin and 
Satan unto God, is translated into the kingdom 
of God's dear Son, and enters into the fulness 
of His grace and love. What now? Is the 
soul saved? Yes. Saved forever and finally? 
That depends. Religion is a life; life 
means growth, growth means ultimate per- 
fection, and moral perfection is a heavenly 
characteristic. What is heaven? Surely it 
is something more than merely a place, 
a city, with streets of gold, flooded with light, 
full of music and song, and languid, restful 
millions. Heaven is the paradise of perfection, 
perfection of character, perfection of conformity 
to God, perfection of communion with Him. 
It is the final state and estate of the soul. It 
is the sum and culmination of all that sal- 
vation implies and achieves. This life is a 
preparation for it. The burden of the Christ- 
ian life, in its personal aspects, is the maturing 



TEE CEEISTIAN LIFE. H5 

of character for the heavenly world, the prepa- 
ration of the soul for the eternal kingdom. So 
God's way of salvation embraces not only con- 
version, but sanctification, eternal redemption, 
eternal and complete fitness for the heavenly 
world. 

HOLINESS. 

The one word that characterizes most fully 
the quality that fits us for heaven, is holiness, 
or Christian perfection. Be ye holy, for I am 
holy, saith the Lord. Blessed are the pure in 
heart for they shall see God. Follow after 
holiness without which no man shall see the 
Lord. These are the Divine injunctions, and 
this is the Divine ideal. There is no perfection 
for man except the perfect work of grace, in 
which the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, 
cleanseth us from all sin, and in which the 
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts in 
such a measure that we are enabled to love 
God with all the heart, and our neighbor as 
ourselves. This is the only perfection possible, 
and it is all of grace, not of works, lest any 
man should boast. This state of perfect love 
and perfect purity, is obtained by faith in 



116 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR, 

Jesus, and as a result of walking in the light. 
So is the prayer of Paul (1 Thess. 5:23) ful- 
filled in us, namely: The very God of peace 
sanctifies us wholly, and our whole spirit, soul 
and body is preserved blameless unto the 
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

PROGRESS. 

There is therefore the need of cultivating 
the spiritual life, nourishing, feeding, strength- 
ening, completing that work of grace begun 
in our hearts. The tender twig must become a 
tree, hardy and rugged. The child must be- 
come a man, matured and fit for service. The 
recruit must become a good soldier enduring 
hardness. The soul, having turned toward 
heaven, must go on unto perfection, not re- 
maining forever in the rudiments of religion. 
Onward, ever onward, is the motto. This is 
a requirement of life itself. We must go on, 
unto perfection, or go back to perdition. We 
must grow and advance, or we must die. There 
is no standing still. The very law of life for- 
bids it. 

It is therefore supremely important to 



TEE CHRISTIAN LIFE. \n 

cultivate the spiritual life. For this there are 
three great means. 

1. The study of the word of God. All 
Scripture, given by inspiration of God, is 
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correc- 
tion, for instruction in righteousness, that the 
man of God may be perfect, thoroughly fur- 
nished unto all good works (2 Tim. 3:16). 
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by 
every word of God. (Luke 4:4). The prayer- 
ful study of. the Word of God, for devotional 
purposes is one of the chief and vital 
means for the cultivation of the spiritual 
life. God is in His word. By the exceed- 
ing great and precious promises, therefore, 
we are made partakers of the Divine na- 
ture. God lives in His word. It reveals His 
inmost purpose of grace. This word, therefore, 
should be to the child of God more precious 
than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter 
also than honey and the honey comb. In keep- 
ing of the Lord's statutes there is a great re- 
ward. Blessed is he who can say with the 
Psalmist: "Thy Word have I hid in my heart 
that I might not sin against thee." 

No other literature can take the place of 



118 TEE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

the Bible as a means of cultivating the spirit- 
ual life. Here is pure nourishment for the soul, 
and no poison. Here faith is strengthened, zeal 
inspired, love kindled, conscience quickened, 
judgment enlightened. Here is the armory of 
truth. Here are the shields of mighty men. 
Mr. Moody says: "When I pray, I am talking 
to God, but when I study my Bible, God is 
talking to me; and it is really more important 
that God should talk to me, than that I should 
talk to Him.' 

And this saying is worth heeding. 

2. Prayer. Next to the study of the Word 
of God, prayer is of most vital importance as a 
means of grace. 

"Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
The Christian's native air; 
His watchword at the gate of death, 
He enters heaven with prayer.' ' 

A Christian can no more maintain his 
Christian vitality without prayer, than a man 
can live without breathing. God environs the 
soul, as the air enswathes the body. In Him 
we live, move, and have our being. He is as 
vital to the spiritual life as the atmosphere 
to the physical. In praying, we breathe in God, 



TEE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 119 

and the more healthful, strong and steady in 
our praying, the fuller are the vital forces we 
inspire. We pray ourselves full of God, and at 
the same time, it is on the breath of prayer, 
that we breathe ourselves out, until we are 
emptied of self and filled with God. 

Prayer is the essential element of com- 
munion with God, upon which our spiritual life 
depends. Now, true prayer is divinely in- 
spired. The Spirit himself makes intercession 
for us. For we ourselves know not what to 
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit indites 
our petition, and when God thus in-breathes 
a prayer, it is surely according to His will, and 
we therefore know that we have the petition 
that we desire of Him. The God inspired prayer 
is answered in advance in the counsels of God. 
And the soul that is full of prayer is full of 
God, full of blessing, full of life, full of victory 
over sin, full of the Spirit of Holiness. The 
soul that prays without ceasing, will become 
God-intoxicated. Daily prayer, secret prayer, 
family prayer, and prayer in the assemblies of 
the saints, is essential to the maintenance and 
cultivation of the spiritual life. 

3. Serving the Lord in the salvation of 



120 THE SINNEB AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

others. There is no surer way to lose the soul, 
than to be careless about others. There is no 
surer way to save one's own soul than to save 
others. The soul that has no passion for souls, 
is dying or dead. God in the soul imparts the 
desire to save others. This is inevitable. We 
can not make sure of heaven any better way, 
than to make heaven sure for others. This is 
the genius of the Gospel. Men are saved 
through saved men. We are saved to save others. 
That is why God continues us here in this world, 
not only to give us time to mature as Christ- 
ians, but to work in His vineyard. If, as some 
suppose, the only purpose of our salvation were 
to get us into heaven, the most reasonable thing 
God could do would be to take us to heaven 
right away. But Jesus said in His high priestly 
prayer, "I pray not that thou shouldst take 
them out of the world, but that thou shouldst 
keep them from the evil." It is not only that 
we may get to heaven, but that we may be the 
means of saving as many others as possible. If 
we are good people, saved from sin, there is no 
place in the universe where we are so much 
needed as in this world, full of sinners as it is. 
We are not urgently needed in heaven. But 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. J 21 

this great multitude of sinners about us, our 
brothers and sisters, are perishing and need sal- 
vation. It is for us to bring them to the Savior. 
There are in our own country nearly fifty 
millions who do not even profess to be saved. 
Statistics show that only twenty-nine million, 
or 33 per cent of our country nominally espouse 
Christianity. All the rest are without God, and 
without hope in this world. Two thirds of the 
human race, or one billion of the billion and a 
half estimated population of the globe are with- 
out the light of the Gospel. They are dying, 
a million a month in China alone, without God, 
says J. Hudson Taylor. And Christ died for 
them all. 

"Can we whose souls are lighted 
With wisdom from on high, 
Can we to souls benighted 
The Lamp of Life deny?" 

Can we who profess to have the love of God 
burning in our souls, be content while the 
others perish? 

If this is so, verily how dwelleth the love of 
God in us? How can we hope to save ourselves, 
if we do nothing, suffer nothing, give nothing 
io save others? Surely, nothing can more 



122 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

strengthen us in our Christian life, nothing can 
more surely deepen our experience, and establish 
us in grace, than to be full of eager, restless, 
insatiable passion for the souls of dying men, 
which constrains us to go after them, and win 
them to Christ and for Him, 



, HEAVEN.-ETERNAL LIFE. 123 

CHAPTER VIII. 

HEAVEN— ETERNAL LIFE. 

It would be worth while to seek Christ, and 
live the life of the Spirit, if there were no here- 
after. For the peace and the joy we have in 
the Holy Ghost are indescribably precious — joy 
unspeakable and full of glory, peace that flows 
like a river. The Christian's life is not all sun- 
shine, but it is an abundant life, full of tri- 
umphant possibilities, in this world. It is not 
all crosses and losses, and yoke bearing. It is 
full of abiding inspirations, and marvellous de- 
lights. 

But the true value and meaning of the re- 
ligious life is in its relation to the world be- 
yond. All the mighty plan of salvation could 
mean but little were it not that human life 
sweeps through the eternities. Immortality is 
the only thing that makes it worth while to 
redeem the race. It is man's relation to the 
life beyond the grave, that gives meaning to 
all the wondrous plan of salvation, offers the 
key to man's tremendous destiny and throws 



124 THE SINNEE AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

an environment of infinity around his respon- 
sibilities. All our acts and choices have a bear- 
ing on the eternal. Our life overleaps the 
boundaries of time and space, and, as our spirit- 
ual nature rises superior to our physical, in its 
powers and possibilities, as well as its essence, 
it reveals our kinship with the things that are 
spiritual and eternal. 

Conscience, intelligent aspiration, the possi- 
bility of endless development, the expanding 
power of the mind, the solemn forebodings of 
the soul, all argue the immortality of man, the 
indestructibility of the human spirit. 

The outcome of all religious life and ex- 
perience is character. Character tends to per- 
manency. The appeal of all the Scriptures is 
to the things that endure. And the whole 
doctrine of the Christian religion culminates in 
the mighty refrain, " forever and forever," re- 
peated again and again, amid the far-flashing 
splendors into which the redeemed soul is trans- 
lated. That refrain rolls on and on, and re- 
verberates with increasing volume through 
prophecy and psalm and apocalypse. It is this 
alluring outlook that girds the soul and en- 



HEAVEN. —ETERNAL LIFE. 125 

raptures the spirit at the thought of the future. 
It is the dread of an eternal future of dark- 
ness and death that should deter the soul from 
going on in the way of sin that leads from 
God, and light and love and peace and hope 
and bliss. 

For the soul must live forever, either in 
heaven or in hell. "Forever and ever," covers 
both worlds. These waves beat on, which ever 
way they roll. If heaven is eternal, hell is 
eternal. If life is eternal, death is eternal. 
" Eternal life" is no more scriptnral than eternal 
death. "Depart from me, ye cursed, into the 
eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and 
his angels." (Matt. 25: 41). "And these shall 
go away into eternal punishment; but the 
righteous into eternal life. ' ' (Matt. 25 : 46.) The 
same Greek word occurs in both. The "punish- 
ment" is "eternal" and the "life" is "eternal." 
The South Pole points into the unfathomable 
depths downward as the North Pole points in- 
to the unfathomable heights, upward. "But 
whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy 
Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of 
an eternal sin." (Mark 3: 29. R. V.) That 



126 TEE SINNEB AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

is significant. The soul that turns from God 
chooses death and night. "And that choice 
goes on forever.' ' He who sins against light, 
is struck blind. He who fights against God 
must go down. Evil character also tends to 
permanence. A man is forever what he de- 
termines to be. Hell is as real as Heaven. 
Each is inevitable. They are the opposite 
poles of the inexorable nature of things. Hell 
is the final home of those who have banished 
God out of their lives, who have chosen to 
gravitate away from Him who loved them and 
went to abysmal depths to save them. There 
is no other way to deal with those who reject 
the only Savior, and the only way of salva- 
tion. 

HEAVEN. 

Heaven is the final home of the sanctified 
soul. It is the place toward which the destiny 
of the redeemed gravitates, the Utopia of light 
perennial toward which the sin-tired, grief- 
smitten, sorrowing hearts of men in all ages have 
turned with longing and hope; against whose 
battlements there leans the topmost rung of 
that mystic ladder upon which men ascend to 



HEAVEN.-ETERNAL LIFE. 127 

God. It is the dream of our childhood, the 
mighty inspiration of pure manhod. It is the 
one word that sums up to us our highest con- 
ception of happiness, the final realization of 
our purest ideals. Into it are gathered up all 
that we think of as sweetest and purest and 
noblest in existence. With it we associate God, 
the angels, the spirits of just men made per- 
fect, the multitude that no man can number, 
whose hearts and robes are made pure and white 
in the blood of the Lamb ; the city that lieth four- 
square, with the walls of jasper and gates of 
pearl, and streets of gold; a sunless, starless 
world of undying daylight; whose atmosphere 
is redolent with purity and vibrant with the 
song of the redeemed. Imperishable in splen- 
dor, glorious in holiness, full of light and love 
and God. Here it is that the soul that loves 
Jesus finds its eternal rest, its abiding place. 
That is the final outcome of salvation. 

Heaven is the dwelling place of God. It is 
His eternal abode of light. It is the high and 
holy place of Him that inhabiteth eternity. It 
is the eternal glory of the universe, where all 
that is fit to survive is gathered. Its center is 



128 TEE SINNER AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

the throne of supreme and universal sovereignty, 
and the Throne of grace, the dwelling place of 
God and the Lamb. It is the grand sum of all 
perfection, the sea in whose bosom all rivers find 
their eternal level. 

Heaven is the dwelling place of the angels 
that fall not, those spirits of light who are sent 
forth to minister to the heirs of salvation, who 
always behold the face of God, who bask in 
His presence, and enjoy His favor. 

In short it is the gathering place of all those 
free beings who have chosen conformity to the 
will and nature of God. It is the center of 
freedom and peace, in the sunshine of Jehovah's 
face. 

Yet more. Heaven is the place where the 
spirits of just men made perfect are in an 
environment which offers the most unrestrained 
opportunity for intellectual, moral and spirit- 
ual development. In the heavenly state physi- 
cal limitations, have fallen away, and all those 
defects of our earthly state have been left be- 
hind, so that the soul expands and the restless 
mind reaches out continually after new realms 
of truth. The redeemed spirit, under the in- 



HEAVEN.-ETEKNAL LIFE. X29 

toxicating delight of a perfect environment and 
perfect adaptation, explores new worlds for 
conquest. In the sacred presence of Jehovah, 
whose smile of approval is the highest and 
holiest that can crown a human life through the 
grace of God, there comes an increasing like- 
ness to Christ our prototype. Fuller and fuller 
grows the surging tide of spiritual life and 
energy that flows through the pure soul that 
lives in unbroken communion with the Lord. 
In everything that is pure and noble and god- 
like, the soul in heaven grows. It is the end 
of probation, turmoil, weariness, pain, affliction, 
grief, adversity, heartache, dissappointment and 
sorrow, sickness and death, of trial, test and 
peril of whatever kind, but it is not the end 
of growth and life, of activity and progress. 
Heaven is the land of highest activity and 
truest progress. Motion, motion, onward, ever 
onward, these words express the law of that 
world of light, not stagnation and dead calm. 
Into such a state of blessed inspiration and 
life-giving energy, the Christian finally ripens. 
He is translated into that land of glory, as the 
fitting outcome of the redeeming work of Divine 
grace in his heart and life. Heaven is sal- 



130 T EE 8INNEE AND HIS SAVIOUR. 

vation ultimate, eternal, final, complete, irre- 
vocable. It is the work of grace crowned with 
glory, the cross of suffering transformed into 
the crown of rejoicing, the blossom and fruit- 
age of all the anguish and groaning and passion 
and travail of this earthly life, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. And they shall reign with 
Him forever and ever. 

And now, unto Him that loved us and 
washed us from our sins in His own blood, and 
hath made us kings and priests unto our God 
and His Father ; to Him be glory and dominion 
forever and ever. Amen. 
Finis. 



rlB 16 1^0/ 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 1 6066 
(724)779-2111 



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